Hunger and Poverty

JRF Supports 2012 JCPA-MAZON Hunger Seder and 2012 USA Farm Bill

Rabbi Shawn Zevit — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 11:29:52 -0500

For Passover, the JCPA along with MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger, is once again offering a phenomenal mobilizing event through which JRF communities, congregations from every Jewish stream and local JCRCs can engage community members in meaningful anti-poverty advocacy: The Hunger Seder.

Hunger Seder participants observe the ancient traditions of Pesach (Passover) in the context of a stark reality: that too many of our fellow Americans are still going hungry. The Seder serves a vital purpose and presents a call to action for the American Jewish community to end hunger America.

Hunger Seder Guide: http://engage.jewishpublicaffairs.org/c/627/p/salsa/web/common/public/content?content_item_KEY=9867

In the coming weeks, as Congress works to reauthorize the 2012 Farm Bill, we are confronted with an opportunity to protect and strenghten anti-hunger and nutrition programs that assst hungry Americans. This omnibus legislation impacts everything from agricultural production and federal food assistance programs, to conservation practices that protect the land, air and water from harmful pollution or abuse.

We are urging JRF Communities to hold the Hunger Seders around the nation during the week before and during Passover, March and April 2012. There will be a JCPA/MAZON National Seder held in the Nation's capital. The JCPA has secured the commitment of a number of Jewish denominational movements and youth groups to promote participation in these Seders to their local affiliates.

As the debate grows near, we call upon Congress to prioritize reducing hunger and poverty through a just Farm Bill (see the Jew & the Carrot blog posting here: http://blogs.forward.com/the-jew-and-the-carrot/152276/advocating-for-a-just-farm-bill-on-capitol-hill/)

We recognize that putting together a Hunger Seder is a big commitment. The JCPA has tried to anticipate the resources that you and your community will need to participate. In addition to the resources provided in this memo, we will be sending out sample op-eds and letters to the editor, legislative updates, and will arrange best practice sharing calls in the months to come in order to help facilitate your community's engagement.

Though the Seder is a one-time event, it is meant to serve as a gateway to engage participants in more sustained anti-poverty advocacy. Part of the planning process will also be to develop structures and relationships through which future advocacy and activism can be more easily planned and more quickly implemented.

If you have any questions on hunger and mobilizing your community around the legislation, or questions on implementing the Seder in your community and/or how to best partner with your local Jewish Community Relations Council, please contact Josh Protas

JRF Anti-Hunger and Poverty Initiatives:

http://www.jrf.org/hunger
http://www.jrf.org/omer2008-hunger
http://jrf.org/omer/2006/intro

Fighting Poverty With Faith: November 8 – 18, 2012

Rabbi Shawn Zevit — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 12:55:22 -0400

The annual Fighting Poverty with Faith mobilization focuses on addressing root causes of poverty and ensuring that all who live in the United States have access to opportunities to prosper. We as reconstructionist Jews join the moral authority and organizing power of the faith community to make it a national priority to meet the needs of those living in poverty. This mobilization utilizes the strength of the coordinated faith community to move individuals and communities to action and advocate for clear, immediate policy solutions to address the causes and consequences of poverty.

For millions of Americans, safe and decent housing is unaffordable and unavailable. The faith community cannot stand idly by as too many of our neighbors are forced to make impossible choices among necessities such as food, rent, and medicine. We recognize the importance of decent shelter as a core necessity to overcoming poverty and will educate our communities about this issue and work to increase the supply of and expand access to housing for low income families and individuals. The Fighting Poverty with Faith 2012 mobilization, “Building Opportunity through Affordable Housing for all,” will focus on protecting and strengthening access to safe, decent, and affordable housing during the week of action from November 8 – 18, 2012.

Please use this website to learn about the mobilization and find programming and advocacy resources for your community. We hope you will join us in our fight against poverty. Please see the 2012 letter attached below on this page and consider signing it and participating. (see http://fightingpovertywithfaith.com/).

As Jews, we celebrate a tradition of justice and compassion, and we are called upon to hold ourselves and our communities accountable to the moral standard of this tradition. However, as we look across our country today, we see a nation where millions of people are lacking the basic necessities of life; we see growing numbers of jobless individuals, and even more people who are working, but whose wages are not enough to keep them out of poverty.

Fighting Poverty with Faith is our response to this painful reality. Fighting Poverty with Faith (FPWF) is building a nationwide movement to cut domestic poverty in half between 2010 and 2020. We are a diverse coalition of national and local faith groups that refuses to accept the status quo of poverty in United States. We bring the moral authority and the organizing power of the faith community to ensure that meeting the needs of those living in poverty is a national priority, and to highlight solutions that policy makers, community leaders and concerned individuals can take to address the root causes of poverty.

We are asking Reconstructionist clergy and community members to join individuals, synagogues, Jewish Community Relations Councils and federations to join together in the month to educate and to advocate around poverty in America.
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Previous Initiatives:
Fighting Poverty With Faith: Good Jobs Green JobsJRF endorses and joins national interfaith coalition "“FIGHTING POVERTY WITH FAITH: GOOD JOBS, GREEN JOBS", October 14-21, 2009 http://jta.org/news/article/2009/10/13/1008480/jcpa-works-for-good-jobs-green-jobs

JRF has joined The Jewish Council for Public Affairs and Catholic Charities USA who are co-chairing a national mobilization to create a united faith voice on poverty in America. We are joining over 30 other American faith organizations—including 13 national Jewish agencies—and expect more to sign on in the coming weeks. The centerpiece of the initiative is a week of action entitled “FIGHTING POVERTY WITH FAITH: GOOD JOBS, GREEN JOBS" to take place between October 14-21, 2009. Check out the mobilization’s website at www.fightingpovertywithfaith.com.

As members of the Jewish community, we have a strong tradition of helping those who are less fortunate. We run soup kitchens and missions and shelters, we give money to charity and we clean up parks and area neighborhoods. But we also know, as our sage Maimonides teaches, the highest and most virtuous form of helping another is to empower that person to take care of him or herself. We also know that one of the most sustainable solutions to poverty is the creation of good, family-supporting jobs and workforce policies that help people lift themselves out of poverty. Many of you participated in last year’s successful Fighting Poverty with Faith week of action. In 2009, we plan to build on last year’s success by promoting a more focused mobilization with deeper participation across the nation. The focus of this year’s mobilization is centered on creating pathways out of poverty through the promotion of workforce development and green jobs.

The goal is to create a strong and united faith voice to ensure that as we transition to a clean-energy economy, we take the opportunity to promote workforce strategies that will bring people out of poverty. While our nation’s transition to a new, energy efficient economy is already taking shape, it is up to us to ensure that this transition will lead to meaningful poverty-reduction and that communities are not left out of the opportunities presented by the emerging, green sectors. The faith community has a particularly important role to play in the creation of this new industry, because of our historic involvement in social service provision and because of the clear, moral messaging we bring to the table.

To these ends, faith organizations across the country will be taking coordinated actions throughout the week that engage their members in education and advocacy regarding green jobs. All of our national partners are also encouraging their grassroots membership and local affiliates to mobilize people of faith in communities across the country during this week. They are all sending similar memos and resources to their field, urging them collaborate with local partners on participating in the week of action and meeting these objectives.

If you have questions about participating in Fighting Poverty with Faith or implementing programming in your community, please contact For more information, please contact:

The Jewish Council for Public Affairs
1775 K Street NW, Suite 320
Washington, DC 20006
www.jewishpublicaffairs.org
202-212-6037

Prior Sponsoring organizations: National Endorsing Organizations: Alliance to End Hunger, American Baptist Churches USA, Association of Jewish Family and Children’s Agencies BBYO, Inc., Bread for the World, Catholic Charities USA, Center of Concern, The Episcopal Church, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Evangelicals for Social Action, Hindu American Foundation, Hindu American Seva Charities, International Association of Jewish Vocational Services, Islamic Relief, Islamic Society of North America, Jewish Council for Public Affairs,
Jewish Labor Committee, Jewish Reconstructionist Federation, Jewish Women International, Lutheran Services in America, MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger, The National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd, National Council of Churches USA, National Council of Jewish Women, NETWORK: A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby, Progressive National Baptist Church, The Rabbinical Assembly, Society of St. Vincent DePaul, Sojourners, Union for Reform Judaism, United Church of Christ, Justice and Witness Ministries, United Jewish Communities, The United Methodist Church – General Board of Church and Society, Women of Reform Judaism.

AJWS Global Hunger Shabbat, Nov. 2-3 2012

Rabbi Shawn Zevit — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 10:29:53 -0500

AJWS Invites U.S. Jewish Communities to Observe Global Hunger Shabbat, Nov. 2-3, 2012
JRF Hunger and Poverty Resources: http://jrf.org/hunger

AJWS invites you to join us in observing Global Hunger Shabbat—a day of solidarity, education, reflection and activism to raise awareness about global hunger.

Global Hunger Shabbat will be an opportunity for Jews nationwide to unite for this common cause and to raise our collective voices against the injustice that is claiming lives around the world. As Jews, social justice has always been in our prayers and our actions, and this day of solidarity is designed to bring about our deepest impulse for effecting change. This year, Global Hunger Shabbat will take place in the weeks prior to Thanksgiving, linking our work in pursuit of global food justice to this season of gratitude.

To make it simple to organize Global Hunger Shabbat in your own community, AJWS will provide an array of educational tools to suit various groups and audiences. Use them to organize Shabbat dinner, a day of study or a Shabbat-long program in your home, school, campus or synagogue – simply sign up here! You can view the materials from last year’s Global Hunger Shabbat.

2012 Campaign: http://ajws.org/hunger/ghs/ghs_participate.html?autologin=true&utm_source=ghs&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ghs_std

To help individuals, congregations and communities organize and host their own Global Hunger Shabbat events on March 19th, AJWS has created an online toolkit (available at www.ajws.org/hungershabbat), which includes:

Talking points about hunger and the food insecurity crisis
An original prayer and sermon prompts designed for the synagogue or community setting
A Jewish text study and family activity
“Solidarity Plates” to designate an empty seat at the Shabbat table meant to represent the 1.1 billion people facing hunger worldwide
Readings for use around the Shabbat table featuring stories about hunger and the solutions communities in Africa, Asia and Latin America are developing to fight it
Suggestions for ways that American Jews and their communities can take action
A poster and a community newsletter ad to help publicize Global Hunger Shabbat

AJWS and its grantess in Africa, Asia and the Americas believe that a local approach to realizing the human right to food will most effectively halt food insecurity worldwide. AJWS implements this approach by supporting grassroots change by and for local people in myriad ways—teaching farmers to grow food using sustainable farming methods; endowing communities with seed banks and harvest storage facilities; founding agricultural cooperatives and jumpstarting profitable local markets; and empowering indigenous communities to advocate for their land and water rights. Global Hunger Shabbat offers the American Jewish community an opportunity to join AJWS and its grassroots partners in supporting these critical solutions.

Global Hunger Shabbat toolkits and more information about the program are available at www.ajws.org/hungershabbat. These materials are part of an ongoing collection of educational resources that AJWS has created on global justice topics.

ONE Global Anti-Poverty and Aids Campaign

Rabbi Shawn Zevit — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 15:43:04 -0400

One.org web site.

About ONE
(See JTA article http://jta.org/news/article/2008/12/03/1001338/thre)

ONE is Americans of all beliefs and every walk of life - united as ONE - to help make poverty history. We are a campaign of over 2.4 million people and growing from all 50 states and over 100 of America's most well-known and respected non-profit, advocacy and humanitarian organizations. As ONE, we are raising public awareness about the issues of global poverty, hunger, disease and efforts to fight such problems in the world's poorest countries. As ONE, we are asking our leaders to do more to fight the emergency of global AIDS and extreme poverty. ONE believes that allocating more of the U.S. budget toward providing basic needs like health, education, clean water and food would transform the futures and hopes of an entire generation in the world's poorest countries.

JRF’s resources (including the JRF Omer Initiative on Hunger and Poverty, and One Sabbath Torah Guide contributions from Larry Bush, Jeffery Dekor, Rabbi Lewis Eron, Abby Weinberg Rabbi Ezra Weinberg, Carol Towarnicky) are now part of the toolkit available through ONE to organize a ONE Sabbath event at your house of worship.

http://www.one.org/faith/jewishgroups.html and http://www.one.org/onesabbath/jewish.html

Also watch the new international multi-faith video ONE has produced with religious leaders speaking on this issue, including the Reconstructionist movement:
http://www.one.org/joinonesabbath/ and
http://www.one.org/documents/faith/multifaith/index.html

Check out what ONE members of faith are doing for World Malaria Day, April 2010 and a great new video: http://www.one.org/us/onesabbath/worldmalariaday.html

ONE is nonpartisan; there's only one side in the fight against global AIDS and extreme poverty. Working on the ground in communities, colleges and churches across the United States, ONE members both educate and ask America's leaders to increase efforts to fight global AIDS and extreme poverty, from the U.S. budget and presidential elections to specific legislation on debt cancellation, increasing effective international assistance, making trade fair, and fighting corruption.

• Eradicating malaria;
• Improving child and maternal health;
• Reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis;
• Achieving universal primary education; and
• Providing access to food and clean water for all.

If you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.
-- Isaiah 58:10

Together, as people of faith, we can bring light where there is darkness and answer the call to bring hope and justice to the world's poorest people.
L'Shalom,
Rabbi Shawn Zevit,
ONE Member

For additional resources on ending hunger and poverty see: http://www.jrf.org/hunger

JCPA 2009 Plenum Resolutions- JRF National Religious Organzation, Voting Member

Rabbi Shawn Zevit — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 15:52:53 -0400

For your information, here are the resolutions that came out of the recent JCPA plenum. In the two years since JRF became a member religious organization and fourth Jewish movement in the JCPA, we have participated in many coalitions and sign-on initiatives. This Plenum marked the first time we were a national religious organization co-sponsoring three of the resolutions below. Thanks to Carl Sheingold (JRF Executive Vice-President), Bob Barkin (JRF President) and Val Kaplan (JRF Chair of External Affiliations) for representing us and voting on our behalf at the Plenum.

Full list of 2009 JCPA Resolutions

Full listing of partner organizations and sign-ons,

JCPA
JCPA speaks to you each week, alerting you to what the community relations field is doing to safeguard the rights of Jews here, in Israel, and around the world and to protect, preserve and promote a just, democratic and pluralistic American society. For three generations, we have brought together diverse voices in the Jewish community to unite a strong Jewish public policy force.

Date: March 11, 2009
From: Max Mulcahy, Program Director, JCPA

Below are the final versions of the JCPA resolutions as adopted by the 2009 Plenum. Click on the links to access the resolution text in pdf format. Please share these resolutions with your board and leadership. If you have any questions please feel free to contact JCPA offices.

Strengthening the Assets of Low Income Households

Challenges in Coalition Building

Comprehensive Energy Policy

Criminal Justice Reform

Darfur

Freedom of Expression/Defamation of Religion

Supporting Comprehensive Early Childhood Care and Education Programs for All

Muslim Jewish Relations

Alleviating Hunger and Food Insufficiency among Children, the Elderly, Persons with Disabilities, and other At-Risk Individuals in the U.S. and Internationally

Reform of the Federal Poverty Measure

Congregation Bet Haverim Takes Part in Living Wage Campaign

Lisa Tuttle — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 13:19:42 -0500

The Tikkun Olam committee of Congregation Bet Haverim in Atlanta, Georgia, asks the question "How little could you live on?" At the Kabbalat Shabbat service on Friday, December 5 will be a special program on the Living Wage Campaign. This interfaith alliance, of which Bet Haverim is a member, hopes to raise the salaries of the lowest-paid workers in Georgia, many of whom are not covered by the federal minimum wage law. To help understand the significance of the choices workers must make, congregants have been invited to jot down ahead of time their own “subsistence” budget for a month, including just the necessities they must pay for and to bring it to the December 5 service. How little could YOU live on? Read more!

How little could YOU live on?

What are your and your family’s minimum expenses each month – just for the items you need to have, with no “luxuries” such as entertainment, restaurants, new clothes, travel, cable TV, Internet, hair appointments, etc.?

Housing $_________ per month

Utilities (water, heat, electricity, phone) $_________ per month

Food $_________ per month

Child care $_________ per month

Transportation (car payment, gas, insurance, etc.) $______ per month

Medical needs $_________ per month

Necessary clothing $_________ per month

School supplies $_________ per month

Other $_________ per month

Fighting Poverty with Faith Week September 9-16 Kicks off with a National Conference Call To Action

Lisa Tuttle — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 10:24:44 -0400

People of diverse faiths in almost 100 communities in 36 states are challenging candidates and elected officials to address the issue of poverty in America during "Week of Action” September 9 – 16, 2008. This call to action is to bring attention to the needs of the nation’s poor and urge candidates for elected office to outline what they would do in their first 100 days in office to develop comprehensive plans for reducing poverty and creating economic opportunity in the United States.

Visit www.jrf.org/fight-poverty-with-faith for full details of this initiative.

By speaking with one voice, participants seek to spark a national conversation, and create a mandate for the officials elected this year to aggressively pursue a poverty-reduction agenda. A coalition of 21 national faith groups is sponsoring the interfaith week of action.

A national kickoff conference call (call-in information below) and a closing prayer vigil on the steps of the United States Capitol bookend the week. Other activities include: grassroots writing and calling campaigns, forums to discuss these issues with local and national civic and political leadership. Groups will also engage in interfaith community service to aid those in need in their communities, and highlight the need for increased leadership from elected officials on these issues.

KEY NATIONAL EVENTS

National Conference Call
Sept. 9, 1:00 pm EDT

Speakers:

Congressman John Lewis of Georgia
Rabbi Steve Gutow, Executive Director, The Jewish Council for Public Affairs
Rev. Clarence Williams, C.P.P.S., Senior Director for Racial Equality and Diversity, Catholic Charities USA
Dr. Jared Bernstein, Director of the Living Standards Program, Economic Policy Institute

Toll-free dial-in number from within the US and Canada: 888-668-8585 (The toll number for international callers: (201-604-0409). Participant Access Code: 7905123#

Prayer Vigil on Capitol Hill
Sept. 16, 10:00 am EDT
Steps of U.S. Capitol

Speakers here:

Rev. Larry Snyder, President, Catholic Charities USA
Rabbi Steve Gutow, Executive Director, the Jewish Council for Public Affairs
Rev. Jim Wallis, Chief Executive Officer, Sojourners
Bishop James Mauney, Bishop for the Virginia Synod, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
William Daroff, Vice President for Public Policy and Director the Washington Office, United Jewish Communities
Jim McDonald, Vice President for Policy and Programs, Bread for the World
Simone Campbell, Executive Director, NETWORK: A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby

For more information, including details on local events, visit fight
Groups Participating in Fighting Poverty with Faith: A Week of Action:

Alliance to End Hunger
Association of Jewish Family and Children’s Agencies
Bread for the World
Catholic Charities USA
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Interfaith Youth Core
Islamic Relief
Islamic Society of North America
The Jewish Council for Public Affairs
Jewish Reconstructionist Federation
The National Council of Jewish Women
MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger
National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd
National Council of Churches
NETWORK: A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby
Presbyterian Church (USA) Washington Office
The Righteous Indignation Project
Sojourners
Union for Reform Judaism
United Jewish Communities
Women of Reform Judaism

JRF Update on Agriprocessors: A Resource for Congregations

Lisa Tuttle — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 17:17:22 -0400

Protesters at the July 27 rally at Agriprocessors' Postville, IA plant (photo from Shalom Rav, the blog of Rabbi Brant Rosen)JRF calls on the members of its affiliated communities to join together in dialogue and action in response to human rights and social justice infringements at Agriprocessors, Inc, the nation’s largest kosher slaughterhouse.

To these ends, the JRF Update on Agriprocessors: Background and Action Steps, attached to this story, was compiled to assist you in your local communal and personal decision making.

Alternative Kosher Cooperatives
Here are three alternative kosher distributors, all using the csa
(cooperative) model:
Kolfoods.com
Mitzvahmeat.com
Kosherconscience.com
As an extension of our Tuv Ha'aretz CSA program, RSNS has just partnered with Mitzvah Meat, so our members can order grass-fed, free- range kosher meat from a local NY farm, delivered to our synagogue in time for Rosh Hashanah!

If you're not in the DC or NY area, you may be out of luck for now, but if you go to the Kol Foods site, there might be some information about how to start your own supply chain, based on this model!

best,
Cantor Eric Schulmiller
The Reconstructionist Synagogue of the North Shore Plandome, NY

JRC's Rabbi Brant Rosen Reporting from Africa

Rabbi Shai Gluskin — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 10:10:33 -0400

Rabbi Brant Rosen in RwandaRabbi Brant Rosen of JRF's Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation in Evanston, IL is currently in Africa. And he's blogging from there. Here is an excerpt:

We talked about the ways the Rwandan experience is both similar and markedly different than the Jewish one. Obviously the wounds here are very fresh; and unlike the Jews of Europe, the goverment is committed to bringing all aspects of Rwandan society back together in one extremely small country.

Whether this will succeed over the long term or not is an open question. One woman who joined our conversation expressed her doubts - saying that while the political reconciliation is important, much of the underlying pain and hatred continues to simmer under the surface. How many generations does it take for this kind of pain to dissipate in a community? The Jewish people hav been learning this for some time - Rwanda is struggling with the tragic question as well.

Our final visit was a heartbreaking tour of Kigali’s Public Hospital. More on this in my next post…

Defining Poverty: What does it mean to be poor in Ontario today?

Brian Fink — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 22:52:49 -0400

The following article from the Toronto Star features Rabbi Shawn Zevit.

Defining Poverty: What does it mean to be poor in Ontario today? As the province grapples with that question, the Star asked dozens of local experts. Here are their answers ...