21 April 2013

• "How to Help Military and Veteran Families, Before, During and After Deployment” initiative. PDF.  America's Action Plan for Community Service prioritized needs of veterans and their families in every U.S. city/county area, 50 states and territories.

8 March 2013

Contact: Stephen M. Apatow
Founder, Director of Research & Development
Humanitarian Resource Institute (UN:NGO:DESA)
Humanitarian University Consortium Graduate Studies
Center for Medicine, Veterinary Medicine & Law
Phone: 203-668-0282
Email: s.m.apatow@humanitarian.net
Internet: www.humanitarian.net

United Nations Arts Initiative
Arts Integration Into Education
Url: www.unarts.org
Twitter: unarts




America's Action Plan for Community Service
A record 89,304,000 Americans 'Not in Labor Force' Almost 1 in 3 unemployed - Communities in Crisis Across America.

Across America today, 23 percent of the population is unemployed/underemployed, [1] nearly 1 in 4 or 75 million people in a state of economic emergency, struggling to keep a roof above their head, food on their table, heat in their homes...  Humanitarian Resource Institute has advanced an appeal to our local municipal leaders, grassroots community service and interfaith organizations in all 50 states, to organize emergency assistance that will reach these populations.  

In the context of our U.S. troops and veterans, [2] that protect our country and provide us the capacity to live in peace and prosperity, unmet needs in the spotlight include:

• Homeless Veterans: Between 529,000 and 840,000 veterans are homeless at some time during the year. On any given night, more than 300,000 veterans are living on the streets or in shelters in the U.S. Approx. 33% of homeless males in the U.S. are veterans.The number of homeless Vietnam-era veterans, male and female, is greater than the number of soldiers who died during the war. -- Veterans and Homelessness Statistics: Veterans Inc.
• Female Homeless Veterans: The population of female veterans without permanent shelter has more than doubled in the last half-dozen years and may continue climbing now that the Iraq war has ended, sending women home with the same stresses as their male counterparts - plus some gender-specific ones that make them more susceptible to homelessness. - Homelessness increasing for female veterans: Boston Globe, 9 April 2012.
  
• Veterans Unemployment: Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America said in a survey of its membership released in March that 16.7 percent of its members were unemployed. Among the unemployed, 24 percent said they could not find a job that matched their skills or experience, and 11 percent said they could not find a job that matched their level of education. -- Young vets’ joblessness hits 10.3 percent: Military Times, 6 April 2012.
  
• Veterans Foreclosure Crisis: Unemployment, debt and a troubled housing market are plaguing families across the country, but for those in the armed forces, there is an even bigger burden to bear.... According to the Department of Defense, military families move 10 times more often than civilian families.  -- Military families face financial hurdles: CNN, 27 March 2012.

How to Help: Hunger & Homelessness in America
Tour de America: The Ultimate Youth Leadership Project [3]

In 1993, the inability of the state and local government programs to handle the needs of front line programs across the United States prompted the need for increased citizen involvement.  The Run Across America for Hunger, Homelessness and Poverty focused on networking  the booklet "How to Help: Hunger & Homelesness in America" that included a 14 point congressional mandate, constructed by the U.S. House Select Committee On Hunger, to evaluate available resources and unmet needs. 

The focus of the following needs assessment is to help community leaders who desire to advance strategic planning and development of solution oriented initiatives.

Questionnaire 

1. Is there a community based food delivery network in your area ? This coordinated network would include food pantries, feeding programs, soup kitchens, congregate meal programs and food banks. 
2. Has a needs assessment been completed in your city/county area within the last year ? This would be defined as a comprehensive effort to collect information on the extent of food insecurity problems in the community. 
3. Does your city/county area have an Anti-Hunger Policy Coalition ? This program would be defined as a central group of residents who gather information detailing the needs of the community to help develop courses of action for responding to gaps in existing services. 
4. Is there a program to communicate the availability of Federal Food Assistance ? This program would educate residents about the various federal food assistance programs and work with local officials and private sponsors to improve the availability of services to all residents. 
5. Is there a working program to mediate Public/Private Partnership ? This would include working relations between government agencies, private groups,  non-profit organizations and businesses to work together to solve local food insecurity problems. 
6. Are there any organizations promoting citizen involvement ? This would include efforts to educate residents about local food insecurity problems and encourage their involvement in activities to combat hunger. 
7. Is there a communication network in place to provide information and referral services ?  
8. Are there pathways existent to expand sources of low-cost food ? This area encompasses the development of creative food resources such as community gardens, buying clubs, food coops. farmers markets and community owned grocery stores. 
9. Is there a program in your city/county area to target vulnerable population groups ? These efforts would identify and target services to those groups that are at high risk of food insecurity problems, such as homebound elderly and small children. 
10. Are there food distribution services for transporting food to programs that provide emergency meals, etc. ? 
11. Does your city/county provide direct access services: These are sites that are easily accessible to community residents? 
12. Does your city/county provide public transportation services ? Residents, social service program administrators and public transit systems should work together to establish public transportation routes that provide direct community access to public assistance services and food outlets. 
13. Does your city/county provide nutrition education classes ? These nutrition education programs are to help inform residents about the relationship between diet and health, and help them develop nutritious food buying and preparation habits. 
14. Is your city/county area currently participating in gleaning programs for collecting and channeling to needy persons, wholesome foodstuffs which would otherwise go to waste ?

America's Action Plan for Community Service

The objective to bridge unmet needs to untapped resources continues today through the "America's Action Plan for Community Service" that includes the following objectives:

-- To empower youth and community leaders with the tools they need to develop initiatives that can effectively bridge unmet needs to untapped resources in their communities.
-- To encourage the immediate development of a needs coordinating group in every local community across the United States.
-- To encourage the development of a communication network that would include the executive directors of all frontline service programs to obtain prioritized overviews of unmet community needs.
-- To encourage the construction of a grass roots communication network (fax, email, postal) to all churches, interfaith organizations, youth leadership programs, volunteer programs, corporations, media outlets (newspaper, radio and television), state and national leaders.
-- To encourage the distribution of quarterly or bi-annual needs updates.


Humanitarian Resource Institute invites all American's to support this grass roots initiative in cooperation with the objectives of the Corporation for National and Community Service.


References:

1. SGS Unemployment: Shadowstats. Url: www.shadowstats.com/alternate_data/unemployment-charts
2. Not Forgotten - Restore Warriors Project: Humanitarian Resource Institute. Url: www.unarts.org/news/aiie_restorewarriors5142012.html
3. Tour de America: 10,000 Miles, CycleAcrossAmerica.org, Run Across America.org.  Url: www.TourdeAmerica.com