Assignment #9

Since it is free choice I decided to post summary of conference which I attended. I hope that some of you also attended it and can give me same feedback on it. Thank you

On Wednesday April 21^st, we, as a whole class, attended one of four parts of the symposium titled “The Resilient City”, which examined the current recession, its urban origins, and its overall effect on America’s cities. The part that we attended was called “Food and Hunger in New York City” and it showed different approaches of dealing with hunger.

The director of The Food and Nutrition Programs at LaGuardia Community and College Professor Bette Cohen and Minerva Delgado, the director of Agency Resources at the Food Bank For New York City introduced the subject of the conference. Professor Cohen talked about history and hunger statistic in America, where as Professor Delgada focused more on New York City today, and how to resolve the problem. She also talked about the organization for which she works.

According to Professor Cohen’s sources in November 2009 there were forty-nine millions of hungry Americans of which seventy millions were children. That means every sixth person did not have food to eat. She said the history of a hunger in U.S. took roots in the early 1920’s and progressed through the decades. Cohen introduces different approaches of the government to the problem - from the concept of providing free school lunches, and creating the first food stamps by president Frank Delano Roosevelt and then taking them away. Finally she spoke about the welfare reform where the food stamps were drastically cut, and then brought back by president Clinton. She concluded her presentation with a statement that hunger is mostly caused by government policies, and that hunger these days has become platform for glamour charity events.

Professor Delgado focused her presentation more on the New York City problem with hunger, and on her work for the Food Bank For New York where she is the Director of Agency Resources. According to Delgado we, as a country, are very close to resolving the problem of famine - it is only a matter of changing political will and putting resources in right places. In her opinion, food should become a basic human right. Delgado also talked how the Food Bank works, how they obtain food from different institution, the restaurants, the government and how it is distributed among people in need. She also said the agency provides income support, free tax assistance and food stamps for people with low income. Finally, she talked about the major increase in demand for services in connection with the ascendant recession, yet, at the same time, she said they were receiving concerned response from the government as well as from the private sector. For example the government established the stimulus package, improvements in food stamps program, and the private donors donated bigger amounts of money then they normally would have. All of the above helped New York City a lot in the recent year.