By Sierra Filucci
Times are tough. Unemployment numbers are up, food costs are high, and in Oakland, where 11 percent of the population lives below the poverty line, people are hungry. This is nothing new, but the USDA just released numbers showing that hunger in the United States is at a staggering 13-year high. The report shows that 17 million households (or about 49 million people) were food insecure in 2008, compared to 13 million households in 2007. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack said this was the largest increase in any one-year period in the history of this report.
So, in partnership with Oakland Local, I’d like to find out exactly how hungry is Oakland. How bad have things gotten in the past year and what is at the heart of the problem? And what can we do to make things better?
Hunger is often an invisible problem, so this reporting will help make it more visible. This will help people better understand their city and the people who live there. And this is important because hunger has potentially devastating effects on people’s physical and mental health. It’s also linked to educational attainment, behavior and violence, and has an impact on the achievement gap between different classes, races, etc.
Sierra Filucci is an experienced journalist who has published in the East Bay Express, the Oakland Tribune, the Contra Costa Times, the Marin Independent Journal and other print, radio and web outlets. She is a graduate of UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism. She recently wrote about Oakland's efforts at school food reform, funded by spot.us contributors.
--A 1,500-word written piece that assesses the hunger situation in Oakland and involves talking with local non-profits and government agencies including The Alameda Food Bank, the Unity Council, California Food Policy Advocates and others who service the hungry. --Some teen perspectives on how their family--and personal eating habits--have changed now that times are tougher --A TAKE ACTION BOX describing what people can do: a) if you are hungry and need help to eat (food banks and food stamps) b) how to help if you want to step up and have resources
