tentcityDesperate tent city revival for America’s homeless: In Sacramento, near the American River, homeless people live in a tent city that recalls those of the Great Depression.  Here’s more coverage from the New York Times and an piece from from Slate.com that provides some historical background on squatting in the U.S. and puts forward innovative strategies cities might use to deal with root causes.

Food bank uses food stamps to help economy: Elsewhere in California, an organization called Food for People has started a campaign called  “Bring a Million to Humboldt County,” which intends to educate the community about how their food stamp dollars can stimulate their local economy.  Their aim is both to enroll more people in the program (in Humboldt County, only 46% of those eligible for food stamps actually use them) and to educate them about the benefits of buying locally.

Expand the WIC Program: More encouraging news comes from Delaware, which just became the second state in the U.S. to include fresh produce and whole grains in the WIC (Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants and Children) program. Greg Plotkin reports on change.org Poverty in America blog that believe it or not,

A program that is, at its core, designed to help low-income mothers with young children purchase healthy food to increase the nutritional value of their diets didn’t include fresh fruits and vegetables as an edible option until now.

Senate votes to triple AmeriCorps, bolster service: In other legislative news, the SERVE Act, which promises to signficantly expand national service, passed yesterday. Check out what some of CKP’s own Americorps members had to say about their service last month.

Students craft their own cafeteria offerings: In an effort to balance better nutrition with taste that will appeal to teenagers, schools from in cities from Oakland to Baltimore are sponsoring cooking competitions for their students. Maybe CKP should be recruiting from the ranks of these young chefs…

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