Familiarizing ourselves with the unknown tends to be quite the task when we are often not handed exposure opportunities to the issue. Often we dismiss an issue as nonexistent due to lack of awareness and therefore cut back on the value of its importance. Hunger is a social justice issue very prevalent in America that Congressmen, politicians, and regular citizens like us tend to underestimate the circumstances of. We forget that chronically starving Americans exist because 1) we commonly associate hunger with underdeveloped countries, and 2) because we immediately see an over abundance of food that is fairly easy to obtain here at home. The truth of the matter is that the American population of people suffering from hunger continues to rise along with healthy food prices and lack of strong political support towards the solution.
Food stamps, food banks, and public assistance prove to be of some help, but as emphasized in the documentary, political red tape proves to stand as a barrier to families for example who aren't rich enough to afford adequate amounts of healthy foods everyday, but simultaneously aren't poor enough to receive public assistance. Both the flaws and large part of the solution to this social justice issue lies within the power of the federal government. One flaw for instance is that they increased funding for a larger budget for each public school student's lunch, but cut Food Stamps in order to do so according to the documentary. However the federal government has the power to be a primary driver of the solution by creating policies that require all supermarkets to sell healthy foods, or for those on public assistance, provide an additional incentive for gaining employment opportunities as opposed to minimizing existing federal aid for example. I additionally believe that pride of wealth amongst various politicians is a large contributor to the increasing American hunger population. More Americans need to be aware of the highly problematic social justice issue of hunger and this documentary is a great educational source for it. Most of us think that the problem does not exist because most of us do not regularly see it. An INEXISTENT and for some, an IMPOSSIBLE solution is created via out of sight, out of mind. Once you view this documentary however the issue becomes very much of EXISTENCE, and so does the belief of a POSSIBLE solution. Written by: Valerie Juguilon The Youth Service Opportunities Project (YSOP) is an IRS 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in New York City by Quakers in 1983. In April of 2003, YSOP expanded to Washington, DC.
YSOP is committed to helping young people become part of the solution to societal problems by showing them how even their smallest actions can make a difference in the lives of others. While YSOP was created for young people, we welcome people of all ages to YSOP. YSOP is a nationally recognized leader in providing high-quality volunteer service experiences. YSOP has been a pioneer in the field of service-learning, leading thousands of young people and adults in programs to encourage community participation and engaged citizenship through direct service to homeless and hungry people. Last year (2012-2013) 4,021 participants served more than 463,600 hungry and homeless men, women and children in New York City, Washington, DC and Philadelphia. YSOP hosts middle school and high school groups, college students, faith-based groups serving on mission trips and community organizations. Hi everyone! We are AB YSOP:NY! We are a part of Alternative Breaks at UCSD.
We will be traveling to New York, New York during Spring Break 2014 with a group of 12 particpants in order to work on issues of homelessness, poverty and youth development along with the non-profit Youth Service Opportunities Project. This blog will be dedicated to the journey that we will all be partaking in this year, so stay tuned! |