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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 31, 2014)
Home, c 1937, by Paul Weller. Courtesy of Hobos io Street People, a project of WRAP, the Western Regional Advocacy Project C u ts to the n a tio n ’s fo o d s ta m p program are not ju st about politics, but the degradation o f o u r youth B Y JO ANNE ZUHL S T A F F W R IT E R " I f y o u 're interested in saving very few years, when Congress turns its . fcealtli care costs, the dum best watery eyes toward the nation’s subsidy-rich th in g yoa can do is cu t n u tritio n . Farm Bill, it chomps hard on the bit that is foodstamps. This year was no exception. Between Food is the cheapest m e d ic in e ." the Democratplans for $4 billion over 10 years, and the Republican goal of nearly $40 billion over their nutrition, and she recently testified to the the same period, a compromise — at least among Senate Agricultural Committee on the lawmakers in D.C. — seems to have been struck. consequences of the cuts now hitting the books. Congress is now shuttling through a 10-year, $9 billion reduction to the nation’s Supplemental Joanne Zvdndz Regarding the impact on children, Nutritional Assistance Program,-or SNAP. That’s what do you know that you want lawmakers to on top of unilateral reductions to the program in understand? November after the 5-year recovery package raft out Dr. D eborah Frank: That hunger is a health Yes, it’s politics. Yes, it’s about subsidies and issue for everybody, particularly for children, food security. But it’s also about human rights; starting during gestation. If the mother is hungry says Dr. Deborah Frank. Frank is the founder and during pregnancy, the child will be smaller and principal investigator of Children’s HealthWatch. sicker and the effects go on throughout life,. Frank has researched the cumulative risk factors in Early childhood is when the baby’s brain is going children’s households, such as food, energy, and to increase two and a half times — two-third^ of the housing insecurity and their impact on children’s adult size — with adequate nourishment. Nutritidn health and development She copies to the is the building block of the brain. Nutrition is an research naturally, as a practicing physician whose essential part of our immune System. Humans who clients are primarily families on public insurance are malnourished are more susceptible to infection or with no insurance at all. She is currently the and they stay sicker longer. And often they are left Director of the Grow Clinic for Children at the underweight by the infection and catch the next Boston Medical Center and is professor of Child infection.' Which is why we see such a tight Health artd Well-Being at Boston University School connection between children’s nutrition and of Medicine. hospitalization. She doesn’t mince words when it comes to the It’s been calculated that a $20 billion cut in impact slashing the nation’s food safety net will See FOOD, page 4 have on the millions of children who rely on it for a Dr. Deborah Frank, founder and principal investigator of Children’s HealthWatch Multnomah County mulls fall-out from SNAP cuts his past month, the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners heard testimony from food stamp recipients about the potentially devastating impact of cuts to the federal program. More than 20 percent of Multnomah County residents rely on the program to supplement their nutrition through hard times. Now those residents will have to deal with Congress’ decision to shave $9 billion from its budget over the next 10 years, much in the form of assistance to families. These cuts come on top of the across-the- board reduction in benefits in November as a result of the expiration of the 2009 stimulus package. In Oregon, about 800,000 individuals — one in five Oregonians — are on food stamps, totaling $1.2 billion in assistance. As such, Oregon has one of the highest rates of food stamp use in the nation, a residual effect of the lingering economic slump that means more people working fewer hours at lower wages. On average, SNAP benefits pay about $1.40 per meal. ■ See MULTNOMAH, page 4 Inside The other corner office Benedict Cumberbatch A talk w ith City A u d ito r LaV onne Griffin-Valade Sherlock H olm e's alter ego talks career, childhood a n d the big screen Page 3 Page 8 Vendor profile Sean a n d Rebecca: Downtown's dynam ic duo Page 6
