Hunger Resources: MDG's. Poverty in America. Food Stamps.

Photo by Flickr user Gerald Perera.

In this next installment of hunger resources, I've gathered a collection of articles on the Millennium Development Goals, U.S. poverty, Africa, and more. Got any hunger resources of your own? Share them in the comments section below.

• Meditations and Devotions on the Millennium Development Goals, (Faith in Action - UMC).
  “[This] 232-page book is a collaboration of some 150 people from around the world addressing the eight MDGs.  The eight goals are to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger; achieve universal primary education; promote gender equality and empowerment of women; reduce child mortality; improve maternal health; combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases; ensure environmental sustainability; and develop a global partnership for development.”

• The Americans No One Wants to Talk About, (The Washington Post):
  “…Many Americans are being overlooked in this bipartisan conspiracy of economic abstraction. A significant and growing portion of the population lives in poverty. In 2007, the rate was 12.5 percent. By 2010, it was 15.1 percent. The share of Americans in extreme poverty — with an income less than half the poverty line — is the highest in the 35 years that the Census Bureau has kept such records.”

• Improved Nutrition, Agricultural Development Helps Bring Hondurans Out of Poverty and Hunger, (U.S. Department of State):
  “As part of the USAID ACCESSO initiative that targets 18,000 poor rural households in Honduras, the Diaz family was given assistance in the form of training, fertilizer, seed, and irrigation that allowed them to grow better and more nutritious food for their family. It also allowed them to produce a surplus that can be sold to generate income. Thanks to this, Mr. Diaz did not need to leave his family in search of work in the city, or abroad.”

• Africa Begins to Rise Above Aid, (IPS News):
  “Currently, at least a third of African countries receive aid that is equivalent to less than 10 percent of their tax revenue. They include Algeria, Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and Libya. This is a significant change from years of high dependency on aid.”

• State of the Dream 2012: The Emerging Majority, (United for a Fair Economy):
  “A major demographic shift is underway in the United States. According to the 2010 Census, White babies now make up a little less than 50 percent of all babies in the country. By 2030, the majority of U.S. residents under 18 will be youth of color. And by 2042, Blacks, Latinos, Asians, Native Americans, Pacific Islanders, and other non-Whites will collectively comprise the majority of the U.S. population. For the first time since Colonial days, the United States will be a majority-minority country.

• How US Policies Fueled Mexico’s Great Migration, (The Nation):
  “Roberto Ortega tried to make a living slaughtering pigs in Veracruz, Mexico. 'In my town, Las Choapas, after I killed a pig, I would cut it up to sell the meat,' he recalls. But in the late 1990s, after the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) opened up Mexican markets to massive pork imports from US companies like Smithfield Foods, Ortega and other small-scale butchers in Mexico were devastated by the drop in prices. 'Whatever I could do to make money, I did,' Ortega explains. 'But I could never make enough for us to survive.' In 1999 he came to the United States, where he again slaughtered pigs for a living. This time, though, he did it as a worker in the world’s largest pork slaughterhouse, in Tar Heel, North Carolina.”

• Leveraging Limited Dollars: How Grantmakers Achieve Tangible Results by Funding Policy and Community Engagement, (National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy):
  “This paper will help philanthropic executives and trustees explore three innovative strategies to achieve greater results with their limited grant dollars. It distills findings from more than 400 pages of research amassed over three years as part of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy’s Grantmaking for Community Impact Project.

• Food Stamp Benefits too Low for a Healthy Diet, New Study Confirms, (Poverty Insights):
  “In 2008, Children’s HealthWatch and partners reported on a unique study aimed at finding out whether food stamp benefits enable low-income families to buy what they need for a healthy diet. Now we’ve got a followup. The answer now, as before is no. And though the follow-up was conducted only in Philadelphia, the findings are generally applicable to other urban areas, including the District of Columbia.”

Chris Matthews is the librarian at Bread for the World Institute.