Greyston To Appear on 60 Minutes
Segment scheduled for Sunday

Former Harry Chapin Self-Reliance Award winner Greyston Foundation will appear on CBS news program 60 Minutes this Sunday.

Located in Yonkers, New York, Greyston Foundation is an integrated system of nonprofit and for-profit organizations that offer a wide array of programs and services to more than 1,200 men, women and children annually. Beginning in 1982 as a small bakery to employ Zen Buddhist students, Greyston is now a $14 million organization of 180 employees (many entry level) that provides jobs, housing, social services and health care to low-income residents of southwest Yonkers and surrounding areas.

60 Minutes taped students at The Technology Education Center, a community center where adults and children can come together, seek new ways of learning, and explore how technology can help them accomplish what they want in life.

State Budget Cuts Hurt Kids Most
by Bill Ayres, Executive Director

In the present fiscal year of 2004, the state budget deficits are estimated at $78 billion. If you add in the large deficits of fiscal years 2002 and 2003, the three-year budget gap for the states is almost $200 million. Estimates for fiscal year 2005 are already $40-41 billion in just 21 states and could rise to more than $50 billion despite an improving economy.

States must balance their budgets. How have they done it? Many have raised taxes and fees for service, and most of those increases have been regressive, hurting poor and middle class families disproportionately. Most of the deficits however, have been made up by cuts in services.

For example, in fiscal year 2004 states spent $60 billion less to make up most of the $78 billion deficit. Where were the biggest budget cuts targeted? CHILDREN. During the past two years 34 states have made cuts in public health insurance programs. About 40 percent of the cuts have been targeted to low income children. There are now 6.8 million low-income children without health insurance.

32 states have cut eligibility for childcare subsidies or limited access to childcare in other ways.

11 states cut K-12 education funding in fiscal year 2004 on top of 11states in fiscal year 2003.

Numerous states are cutting subsidies to state colleges causing double digit increases in college tuition and cutbacks in courses being offered.

We say we are a country that loves our children. If that is so should children be the prime targets for state budget cuts? One last question, do we know the long term consequences of these budget cuts on America's children?

Source material:

This article is based on three recent studies from the Center On Budget and Policy Priorities.

A Brief Overview Of State Final Additions And The Effects Of Federal Policies on State Budgets. (Revised December 3, 2003)

Projected State Budget Deficits For Fiscal Year 2005 Continue To Threaten Public Services (Revised December 22, 2003)

Up To 1.6 Million Low Income People Including About Half a Million Children Are Losing Health Coverage Due To State Budget Cuts (December 22,2003)

Self-Reliance Award Winners Announced
WHY, Harry Chapin Foundation Honors 8 CBOs

For the past 18 years, WHY has distributed cash grants of up to $5,000 to groups judged outstanding for their innovative and creative approaches to fighting domestic hunger and poverty by empowering people and building self-reliance. The Harry Chapin Self-Reliance Awards honor those whose organizations go beyond charity to help people improve their own lives and the communities in which they live. The eight winners of the 2003 Harry Chapin Self-Reliance Awards certainly match that description -- from advocating for social justice to transitioning families from homelessness toward permanent housing.

The awards are administered by WHY, with partial funding from the Harry Chapin Foundation. The 2003 winners are:

Elijah's Promise, New Brunswick, NJ: Empowers lives, invites justice and alleviates hunger by providing meals, training education and social services and opportunities for community service. With the grant, the organization plans to expand its feeding program, to pilot an evening training program, to expand its sustainable and food security project to more fully utilize locally grown and seasonal foods in both the soup kitchen and culinary training programs, and to expand the catering business to include a "restaurant" component which will offer a weekly brunch and weekly fixed-price dinner for the community.

The Workplace Project, Hempstead, NY: Organizes Latino(a) immigrant workers to fight for better working and living conditions and to build cooperatively owned businesses. The organization will use its Harry Chapin Self-Reliance Award to further UNITY Housecleaners' Cooperative programs, which directly impact the lives of the women of the cooperative and their families, such as the educating and organizing campaign for live-in domestic workers.

Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, Des Moines, IA: Empowers and unites grassroots people of all ethnic backgrounds to take control of their communities; involves them in identifying problems and needs and in taking action to address them; and is a vehicle for social, economic and environmental change. Receipt of this award will enable the organization to support its Family Farm Alternative Marketing Project. CCI is working to create a Family Farm Alternative Marketing directory that describes family farmers' operations and provides contact information for consumers. The directory will be distributed to our 1,800 low- and moderate-income members, at county fairs and at community events, to organizations serving immigrants, at inner city churches and organizations, and through presentations to the larger community.

Hidden Harvest, Coachella, CA: Is a produce recovery program that employs low-income farmworkers to rescue produce that is left behind in the fields and orchards after harvest. Provides fresh, nutritious produce free of charge to more than 7,500 families each month through food banks and soup kitchens. Also operates a community garden at facility, making it possible for area residents to grow their own food. Provides 44,000 meals per month to working families through its non-perishable food box delivery program. Hidden Harvest's grant will be used to pay the crew to pick the produce left behind.

Community Outreach, Corvallis, OR: Provide homeless and low-income related services. Helps people transition from crisis situations to long-term stability. Community Outreach will use its HCSRA to provide on-going, in-home case management and other supportive services through its Families in Transition program, which helps stabilize a family's housing for a year while providing them with the services needed for self-sufficiency.

Washington Citizens Action and Research Fund, Seattle, WA: Makes efforts to achieve economic fairness in order to establish a democratic society characterized by racial and social justice, with respect for diversity and a decent quality of life for those who reside in Washington state. The organization plans to use its grant for grassroots organizing, constituency mobilization, advocacy and public education to eliminate discrimination in receiving food stamps for former drug felons in Washington state.

The Housing Partnership, Portsmouth, NH: Strengthens communities by providing quality, affordable housing and related services to benefit low- and moderate-income residents of the Greater Seacoast. The grant will enable The Housing Partnership to expand the advocacy work of the Workforce Housing Coalition of the Greater Seacoast, a united coalition of businesses, government and community groups advocating for a responsible increase in workforce housing in its region.

Make the Road By Walking, Brooklyn, NY: Confronts the severe poverty suffered by the more than half a million people who reside in Bushwick and the adjacent Brooklyn neighborhoods of East New York, Brownsville, Bedford-Stuyvesant and South Williamsburg. The organization will use its HCSRA to support the its community legal education programming that foster self-reliance by giving residents the information and skills needed to be effective advocates on behalf of themselves, their families and their community.

New Year's Resolutions
Break bad habits, help others

The beginning of a new year is a natural time for making changes in our lives. Some make pledges to give up bad habits like smoking or junk food while others decide to spend more time with family and friends. All great aspirations; however, the New Year's resolution can not only better our lives but our communities as well.

Instead of pocketing the extra cash from your ban on buying cigarettes or $4 coffees , make a monthly -- or weekly, if the money's really burning a hole in your pocket -- donation to your favorite food rescue organization, job-training program, or social justice organization.

And if you want to spend more time with your family and friends, you could always volunteer together at a local food pantry. The National Hunger Clearinghouse online database can help you find information on organizations in your area that are working on hunger, poverty, nutrition, agriculture and food issues.

In New York, a great time can be had with Publicolor, an organization that transforms public spaces in neglected schools and neighborhood facilities through the powers of vibrant color and organized collaboration.