By Eugene T. Lowe
February 2, 2009

Hunger and Homelessness Task Force Focuses on Ending Childhood Hunger, Supporting Homeless Veterans

By Eugene T. Lowe

The U. S. Conference of Mayors Task Force on Hunger and Homelessness met January 17 during the 77th Winter Meeting with detailed discussions on childhood hunger and homelessness issues. Co-Chairs San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and Gastonia (NC) Mayor Jennifer T. Stultz led the discussion that featured six presenters.

Stephen J. Brady, Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications Sodexo, led the discussion with a request to cities for the best practices of their programs that would help end childhood hunger. Brady said that the best practices, which should be sent to the Conference of Mayors by March 1, would be published in a report in April. Sodexo is sponsoring the ending childhood hunger best practices report. Brady also described several successful food programs that Sodexo has developed and pursued in a number of cities throughout the nation.

Melissa Mahoney, Baltimore City Schools Chef/Dietitian, described the new approach to school lunches in her city that promotes healthy eating. Too often, the reality and typical school lunch is seen as the unhealthy rubbery chicken nuggets in fries. But in Baltimore, she said other possibilities are the goals of school lunch. Steps are being taken such as collaborating with local farmers to make available fresh produce in schools and having school kids to design food menus for the next school year. There are many benefits: better products and increased participation from kids; food storage and delivery costs are reduced; and, kids are healthier. She challenged the mayors to become involved by going to schools and eating lunch, demanding higher standards in school lunch programs, and by funding school food service.

Dr. Danielle Hollar, of the Agatston Research Foundation, heads a project called Healthier Options for Public Schoolchildren, or HOPS. Hollar described the program that is specifically designed to test the feasibility of introducing a holistic nutrition and healthy lifestyle management program at the elementary school level in central Florida. She presented a power point which showed that the two-year HOPS study found that kids who ate nutritionally sound, high-quality breakfasts, lunches, and snacks - instead of the typical cafeteria food - not only had lower blood pressure and were less likely to be overweight, but they also scored significantly better on standardized tests, especially in mathematics.

Asheville (NC) Mayor Terry Bellamy presented an overview of her city's "No Homeless Veterans in Asheville Program." The initiative, which is part of "Looking Homeward: the 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness in Asheville and Buncombe County." Bellamy said that plan is designed to 1) reduce the number of people who become homeless; 2) increase the number of homeless people placed into permanent housing; 3) decrease the length and disruption of homeless episodes; and 4) provide community based service and supports that prevent homelessness before it happened and diminish opportunities for homelessness to recur.

Nan Roman, President and CEO of the National Alliance to End Homelessness, briefed the task force on the legislative outlook for the 111th Congress. Roman's comments centered on her organization's short and long term recommendations to President Obama. For the economic stimulus, she said that her organization would like to see $10 billion in the National Housing Trust Fund, $2 billion in the Emergency Shelter Grant program, and 400,000 Section 8 vouchers to provide housing to at-risk individuals and families. Long term priorities call for the Administration to organize federal agencies to end veterans' homelessness, ensure that every child has a home, finish the job of ending chronic homelessness, and get homeless youth off the streets and into housing.

Concluding the Task Force meeting, Newsom congratulated Phil Mangano, Executive Director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, for his outstanding work with mayors and the Conference of Mayors to end homelessness in the nation. Mangano in his comments reported that 850 mayors and county executives have now developed 350 Ten-Year Plans to end homelessness. The plans include such initiatives as Housing First, Rapid Housing, and Project Connect. The result of these and other innovative initiatives has led to a 30 percent reduction of people experiencing chronic homelessness. Central to this accomplishment has been the move from a social service framework to a business and economic framework. Jurisdictional leadership by mayors and county executives has also been very important. Mangano said that when mayors and county executives stepped up to lead the effort, "we began to see a drop in homelessness."

rop in homelessness."