Dear Friends,
You may have seen my previous post detailing my commitment to sponsor 12 Heifer International projects in 12 countries over the 12 months of 2012!
Here it is again, in case you missed it...
'2012, A Year of Betterment & Unity'
Following is the first project I have chosen to support which helps to end hunger and rejuvenate communities in Arkansas and Appalachia: USA - Seeds of Change in Arkansas and Appalachia.
Will you join me and donate?
Donations can be made in increments as small as $1.00. Every drop in the bucket will help nourish families and villages for generations to come!
In prosperity & peace,
~Jennifer
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January, Month 1
USA - Seeds of Change in Arkansas and Appalachia
Project Total: $13,417,837 Funds Raised: $835,405 Amount Left: $12,582,432
Project Profile: Seeds of Change in Arkansas and Appalachia will help to organize and provide resources and support for local communities to fight hunger, poverty and environmental degradation.
The project will specifically target high-need populations in two regions: Crittenden, Lee, Lonoke, Monroe, Phillips, St. Francis and Woodruff counties in the Arkansas Delta and Alleghany, Ashe, Watauga and Wilkes counties in North Carolina, and Johnson County, Tennessee in the high-country of Appalachia.
Heifer USA will be facilitating and building the capacity for collaboration among key partners. With partners, this project will work within the value chain to create and support the establishment and sustainability of community food enterprises linking small and medium-scale farmers to diverse markets. Limited resource families will have increased access to, and the ability to influence the quality and availability of, local, healthy food within their own communities. Education and awareness-raising as well as public policy work are also key strategies as part of realizing long-term, systemic change.
Project Rationale: Across the world the standard indicator for extreme poverty is earning less than one or two dollars a day. In the United States there is an equal comparison; families living in poverty are surviving on the salary equivalent to $9.83 an hour, which is actually higher than the federally mandated minimum wage of $7.25 an hour.
Calculations for what is considered a living wage for a family of four across the area of intervention for this project show that approximately $24.33 an hour is required just to cover basic needs such as food, shelter, education, transportation and healthcare. The median household income in 2008 was $25.04 an hour demonstrating that a large portion of the households in the United States are making less than what is considered a living wage.
Here in the United States, a child is born into poverty every 27 seconds. Data from the USDA suggests that this results in 1 of 5 children being food insecure, meaning that at any time during the year, a child is hungry because of the household's lack of money and other resources for food. Additionally, the leading causes of death among Americans—heart disease, stroke, diabetes and cancers directly linked to poor nutrition—are rapidly on the rise.
There is a direct connection between economic and physical health and our nation's food system. In communities across the United States some of the critical missing elements to building localized food systems are farmers, businesses, jobs, capacity and infrastructure. In 2007 the average age of farmers was 57 and nearly 60% of farms in the US earn less than $10,000 annually. In 2008, during the economic recession an estimated 104,000 businesses were lost. Unemployment spiked to 10% in 2009. Workers are in need of new skills to take on the changing times.
During the past few years, across the country there has been a dramatic increase in people becoming involved in and demanding change to their local food systems, referred to loosely as the "Local Food Movement." In some parts of the United States, the number of Farm to School Programs is skyrocketing; the number of farmer's markets across the country has grown by 31% between 2008 and 2010 alone; large retailers responding to pressure from customers have begun to search out ways to source locally and from small and medium scale producers.
Issues such as lack of existing farmers, unsustainable farming practices, lack of necessary infrastructure, access to capital and credit and a challenging policy/regulatory environment have been identified as among the most significant challenges to overcome. As an organization, Heifer not only brings considerable experience and resources to bear, but there exist many opportunities to get involved in this burgeoning movement to the benefit of the poor and food insecure.
Heifer will be supporting capacity building for farmers, including adoption of sustainable production methods and other inputs. Growing capacity within value chains for local community food enterprises and markets will require investment in capacity towards business and job skill development but will help connect farmers to consumers and create jobs in local communities. By working holistically towards building healthy food systems, there will be numerous positive impacts on multiple sectors all toward the goal of ending hunger and poverty while caring for the Earth.
Elements of a Healthy Community Food System: Food systems are complex. To be effective, Heifer's work must go beyond simply providing support and resources to small-holder producers. Heifer USA has identified diverse elements that are key in achieving vibrant, community-controlled food systems:
Diverse Local Producers: Small and medium-scale farmers within a community's defined food system that grow and produce a wide variety of healthy and nutritious food products using sustainable agricultural practices, and with a strong preference for local and regional consumption.
Community-Based Social Enterprises & Cooperatives: For-profit and not-for-profit businesses within the community that provide value-added goods and services within local and regional food systems while targeting triple bottom line sustainability measures (i.e., economic, social and environmental sustainability) and include shared ownership equity arrangements with employees.
Diverse and Distributed Direct, Retail and Wholesale Markets: From roadside farm stands and online farmers markets to schools and hospitals and diverse retail markets located strategically throughout the region servicing distinct and diverse markets of consumers of all income levels.
Educated and Engaged Local Food Consumers: Through targeted awareness-raising campaigns to generate massive support and demand for local food; actively participate in the creation of and advocate for a healthy, vibrant local food system favorable both to resource-poor farmers and the food insecure.
Favorable Local, State and National Policies: Public policy decisions that support and positively impact community food systems and are guided by active and diverse stakeholders who participate in ongoing planning and development of local food economies.
Strong Organizational Leadership and Infrastructure: Community-based organizations representing all sectors that are well organized and function at a high level with effective leadership, management, capacity and a shared vision of a long-term sustainable and equitable food system that addresses hunger and poverty and their root causes.
Accessible and Conserved Natural Resource Base: Prime soils and high quality farmland, clean and abundant water resources and other critical natural resources are readily available to a diverse array of local producers to grow and sustain a community-based regional food economy. Further, through sustainable farming practices, these natural resources are actively being protected for long term viability and ecological health.
Community-Based Finance Institutions: Community-based enterprises that provide credit and financial services to all markets and populations to enhance and further community economic development strategies within the regional food economy, as well as other sectors that help create wealth, health, connections and capacity among all community members.
Methodology, Expected Results and Main Activities: Through this project, Heifer USA will…
Work with vulnerable and marginalized populations who lack access to resources, services or opportunities, setting them on a path first to being less vulnerable and relatively food secure, and then to being resilient, sustainable and linked to markets, recognizing that being vulnerable and marginalized is not one of choice, but the result of historical events, economic disparities, social inequalities and injustice.
Create critical mass, i.e., work with more members of communities, doing enough on the ground to help set the community development process in motion, assuring greater impact that goes beyond Heifer and optimizes the value and potential of scarce resources.
Partner with governments, private sector organizations, other non-profits, coalitions and networks as components of critical mass that delivers programs and services.
Define the path to greater empowerment, building social capital, disaster management and will integrate value chains in its values based development model with a clear plan for Passing On the Gift.
Increase in income and assets, improvement of nutrition and health, improvement of the environment, and building social capital e.g. community organization and empowerment, networks and coalitions, gender equity, youth empowerment etc.
Achieve holistic sustainable impact. This will include positive changes on social capital, gender equity, nutrition and income, economic development, environment, as well as individual and community transformation.
Specifically, this project will achieve the overall goal of reducing hunger and poverty by building sustainable livelihoods and improving food access for marginalized populations by pursuing the following:
Objective 1: Target families will have increased and diversified sustainable household income.
Objective 2: Limited resource families have increased access to, and the ability to influence the quality and availability of local, healthy food.
