All tagged Working Poor

Does Anyone Have a Comprehensive Vision for Housing in Miami?

Does Anyone Have a Comprehensive Vision for Housing in Miami?

Eileen Higgins
Housing, Local Government, Poverty

The price of housing is out of control in the county. It doesn’t matter your socio-economic class or your education level. It’s just plain expensive to live here. It’s costly if you are a teacher or a college grad or a cop. It’s The Miami Herald reports on it all the time. They say that Miami is one of the least affordable cities for teachers. They say that Hialeah is the least affordable for renters with Miami coming in at #2. Businesses worry about a brain drain because young college educated workers can’t find a decent place to live

Why do Food Pantries have so many Banana Boxes?

Why do Food Pantries have so many Banana Boxes?

Eileen Higgins
Poverty

Many of you can attest to the fact that I returned from my visit to Cornell University’s PCCW Feeding the World Sustainably conference fired up to understand more about how many people are food insecure. I decided to start right here in my own Floridian backyard. It was when I met Paco Velez, CEO of Feeding South Florida that I learned just why their warehouse was stacked floor to ceiling with banana boxes. Bananas are the #1 selling item in grocery stores, which means there are lots of empty banana boxes donated to food banks to reuse.

Do we have more Food Pantries than McDonald's in America?

Do we have more Food Pantries than McDonald's in America?

Eileen Higgins
Poverty

Diana Aviv fed 46 million people last year. I nearly fell over to hear that almost 15% of our population is food insecure. This is the United States! We are the richest country in the world, but it’s true. We are a country filled with people who cannot reliably feed themselves nor their children. Diana is the CEO of Feeding America and her organization keeps food on the shelves in 60,000 food pantries across the U.S. To put that in perspective, I looked up the number of CVS pharmacies: 9,600. What about the number of McDonald’s? They seem to be everywhere, but there are only 14,100 or so. Hunger is everywhere, in every state, in every county, in every congressional district.