A man with a plan to end child hunger

by ALBOR RUIZ

'One in four children in New York City depends on food assistance to avoid going hungry, meaning [that] more than 500,000 children rely on free food from kitchens, pantries and shelters. Every day in New York City one in three people on line for food relief are children."

So reads a study of childhood hunger in New York City and a plan to end it, recently released by Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-Brooklyn, Queens). Although he is one of several Democrats who aspire to unseat Mayor Bloomberg, Weiner insists that the impetus for his plan is not political.

"Solving the problem of childhood hunger is not a political but a moral dilemma," he said.

"A Plan to End Child Hunger in NYC" goes beyond exposing the problem. It also proposes concrete actions. And it doesn't come a moment too soon.

"Weiner's plan makes sense," said Joel Berg, executive director of the New York Coalition Against Hunger, after making clear that his organization does not take political sides. "It makes concrete proposals and sets a very important goal: the ending of childhood hunger in New York, which is doable."

The story of hunger in New York is an old one. For a long time, lengthy lines at the soup kitchens and food pantries have been a part of the landscape of one of the richest cities in the world.

"Every day this situation persists should make every one of us feel ashamed," Weiner said.

And there is plenty to be ashamed about. Not only has hunger persisted, but it has been getting worse. Increasingly, children are the ones suffering its consequences.

"Since 2000, the number of people seeking help at food agencies has risen almost 50%," the study says. "Children account for 26% of this population, and children are likely to represent an increasingly large proportion of the population of hungry New Yorkers."

How can this shame of the city be eradicated? According to Weiner's plan, the first item in the agenda must be taking action to alleviate hunger's most pressing causes. The study identifies them as low wages, a lack of initiative by the city and entrenched bureaucratic intransigence.

As readers may remember, it wasn't until an unprecedented bipartisan override of Gov. Pataki's veto last month that a bill raising the minimum wage in the state from $5.15 to $7.15 an hour by 2007 became law.

On Jan. 1, the state's minimum wage rose to $6 an hour - the first raise in six years.

Weiner's 10-point plan proposes some common sense measures, such as dropping fingerprinting requirements for food stamp applications and ending required daytime office visits for working families to make it easier for them to apply.

Right now, 700,000 low-income New Yorkers eligible for food stamps are not getting them, at a cost to the city's economy of up to $1 billion.

Also, the plan recommends using "education and outreach to boost school breakfast participation." Currently, 86,893 city students go without school breakfast despite being eligible.

Weiner's plan also calls for a wide-reaching effort, including measures to raise wages and to pump economic development funds not only into Manhattan but into the outer boroughs as well. Somewhat naively, Weiner proposes to "encourage businesses to pay living wages."

Yet it is a workable attempt to tackle what has been an intractable - and shameful - New York problem for many years. And it deserves serious consideration.

Originally published on January 6, 2005