Miami's greening thumb

It's cropping up on the White House lawn and taking root here in our own backyard. A few days before First Lady Michelle Obama and Assistant White House Chef Sam Kass broke ground on an organic "kitchen garden" with children from a D.C. school, about one hundred of us locals interested in urban gardening sat mesmerized at a public information session with Will Allen of Growing Power. Brought in by area food activist Jo Anne Bander with help from Human Services Coalition President Daniella Levine, the former pro basketball player and University of Miami alum spoke about his love affair with composting worms, aquaponic farming systems and how his Milwaukee-based non-profit distributes 4,000 healthy afterschool snacks of sprouts to area public schools. Yes, you read correctly. Kids are eating sprouts, not mac and cheese, as an afterschool snack in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Everyone from parents to baby-sitters knows that children don't like to be told what to do without knowing why. And that "because I said so" doesn't fly as a reason. I don't pretend to be a child psychologist or nutritionist, but in my experience, the same goes for why they turn their noses up at good-for-you foods. I've seen kids eat and very much enjoy healthy foods when they feel a sense of agency and are involved in the process to the table, especially in a hands-on fashion.

Growing Power began as a youth-serving organization in 1993, when Allen, a farmer with land, began offering teens the opportunity to work at his store and renovate the greenhouses on the property to cultivate food for the surrounding neighborhoods. The program has now grown into a community outreach effort spanning the U.S. and the globe to Africa, Eastern Europe and South America. Its mission revolves around thinking locally and acting globally. Not concerning himself with the big commercial outfits of commodity farmers, Allen focuses on small-scale urban farming techniques to educate people from diverse backgrounds on how to cultivate their own sustainable food sources, and thus improve the environments in which they live. The grass roots movement is steadily gaining momentum in popular culture, as more affluent people look to adopt environmentally-sound lifestyles and cut household expenses to contend with challenging economic conditions.

Allen has been recognized for his accomplishments to date with an 2008 MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, providing him with $500,000 in grant money to continue his work over the next five years. A good thing, since action on a mainstream level will take time. And although awareness is very high (just Google "Will Allen Urban Garden" or "Growing Power"), growingpower.org has logged a healthy but modest 81,761 visitors since August 2008, traffic that is a far cry from what You Tube video sensations attract on a weekly basis.

Corporate America is listening and acting now, following the lead of Will Allen, the White House and influential crusaders of the food community like organic gardening advocate and chef Alice Waters. Reader's Digest has just launched a contest called Good Food Gardens, in partnership with Share Our Strength and the Food Network, awarding the creation of five new edible gardens in schools and communities to eligible nonprofits, schools with a valid NCES code or local government entities that serve children and youth. See if your organization qualifies and enter here.

I connected with Jo Anne Bander via email today about Will Allen's presentation last week, and the progress being made on the urban gardening front in Miami. She writes, "Over 125 individuals attended, including individuals with personal interests and representatives of organizations already doing the work, such as Miami-Dade Earth Ethics Institute, the Miami Beach Botanical Garden, Roots in the City and Urban Empowerment in Coconut Grove. There were also individuals present who control land available for urban gardens and good citizen groups. There were individuals from government and quasi-governmental bodies and Mayor Cindy Lerner of Pinecrest. There were educators and backyard gardeners. Most significantly, people who could not attend but heard about the gathering have been contacting us and asking to be kept in the loop."

"There is a significant school garden program already underway, with strong support within Dade County Public Schools. The Education Fund is developing and managing one such initiative, Plant a Thousand Gardens/Collaborative Nutrition Initiative, which launched with a significant grant from Health Foundation of South Florida and has grown with assistance from other funders. They are working with 10 Title I schools."

"Daniella and I, as conveners, see our role as building a big umbrella under which many related and interested groups can work together to increase urban gardening as a means to make healthy food accessible to both children and adults and reduce the Miami-Dade obesity epidemic in both populations-an effective and appropriate means to improve health in our community. School gardens will be an important effort, but only one among many."

To collect the contact information of people who may be interested in learning more or getting involved in the movement, the organizers have developed a short survey here that they are requesting be filled out by March 27. Feel free to forward to others who may be interested in having a conversation about next steps, or who want to be part of the "assets mapping" for urban gardening in Miami.

From the Florida Center for Fiscal an Economic Policy

The sweeping federal stimulus plan signed into law last week will direct as much as $12 billion into Florida state government over the next two years. These funds will provide some support in balancing the state budget and should reduce severe budget cuts during the legislative session that begins March 3.

However, the additional federal money is non-recurring, which means that it will not be available to plug holes in Florida's budget after the 2010 - 2011 fiscal year. When the stimulus program ends, the state will need to generate additional revenues to make up for the federal funding, substantial budget cuts enacted over the last two years, and transfers of non-recurring funds from trust funds. This is in addition to the normal growth in state programs due to increased need.

Therefore, the Center advocates a comprehensive review and modernization of Florida's revenue system - beginning in this year's legislative session - to create a fairer, more stable structure adequate to serve Florida's needs.

(For the Center's recommendations, see Florida's Fiscal Crisis: The Prescription. The Center's previous report, Florida's Fiscal Crisis: The Problem , details the extent of budget cuts and the harm they cause to Floridians.)

Initial estimates for Florida indicate that between $3 billion and $5 billion will be available to help fill a $5 billion hole in the state's Fiscal Year 2009 - 2010 budget. The Governor's Office suggests the higher figure and some legislative leaders the lower. Their estimates differ and we cannot definitively provide an independent estimate because the stimulus legislation is complex and spending rules are incomplete and sometimes unclear, which leads to uncertainties about the acceptable uses and timing of spending.

In addition to funding that flows directly to our state treasury, billions of dollars more will be paid directly to Floridians in the form of tax cuts and through programs such as unemployment compensation and food stamps. Even more spending will occur in Florida as a result of the so-called "shovel-ready" construction projects discussed in debate about the stimulus program.

Major Stimulus Funding Categories

Federal funds that directly assist state operating funds come primarily from two programs: (1) increased Medicaid funding, which will provide the most money to Florida; and (2) a State Fiscal Stabilization Fund, the largest part designed to prevent cuts to education services and a discretionary block grant program that can be used for education or other basic state services.

1. Medicaid.

The stimulus act will result in almost $4.4 billion in new federal money to Florida for its Medicaid program. In addition, the state will be able to keep another $700 million that it had budgeted to pay for its share of the joint federal/state Medicaid program. Both the new money and the savings are the result of the stimulus act provision that increase the percentage of Medicaid costs paid by the federal government and decrease the state percentage.

In total, the stimulus act's Medicaid provisions (new and retained dollars) are estimated to boost Florida's treasury by $5,164 billion--$1,303.8 billion in the current 2008 - 2009 fiscal year; $1.857.9 billion in FY 2009 - 2010; and $2,002.3 billion in FY 2010-2011.

To qualify for the additional Medicaid funds, states must not have Medicaid eligibility requirements more restrictive than those that existed on July 1, 2008. For Florida this will require the Legislature to restore the Medically Needy Program and the Medicaid for the Aged and Disabled Program scheduled to end in July 2009 under current law.

2. State Fiscal Stabilization Fund.

Florida should be eligible for $2,212.0 billion to avoid budget cuts in K-12 and higher education. However, Florida must obtain a waiver from the Secretary of Education from the requirement that states fund both K-12 and higher education at no less than the FY 2005 - 2006 level in the current fiscal year and the two following. The Legislature has made education budget cuts since 2006 in response to declining state revenue, leaving Florida's current education spending below the 2005- 2006 level. (The Governor's Office and education officials have expressed confidence that the state will obtain the waiver, allowing these funds to flow to Florida.)

An additional $492.2 million can be used, at the discretion of the state, for education or other basic state services, such as modernization and repair of educational facilities, public safety, child care or services for the elderly and people with disabilities.

Other Aid to Florida

Hundreds of millions of additional dollars will be received and spent in Florida through a variety of other, mostly smaller programs. Some of them directly enhance existing programs serving Floridians, involve one-time expenditures, or pass money through the state to local governments. These funds therefore might not directly add to Florida's general revenue budget, but will provide benefits in other areas. Examples include:

$476 million in additional unemployment compensation contingent upon the Legislature adopting specific reforms to the unemployment compensation system which could benefit thousands of part-time workers. The additional funds boost unemployment payments with an additional $25 a week for an estimated 761,000 unemployed Floridians, and extend unemployment compensation for 22 weeks for about 170,000 unemployed workers;
$1.44 billion for transportation projects;
$158.8 million for job training; summer youth programs and other employment services, most distributed through regional workforce boards;

$1.38 billion in additional funding for special education and Title I school funding, vocational rehabilitation and educational technology;

$20.9 million for food stamp administration by the state, in addition to an increase in food-stamp benefits for 1.7 million Floridians receiving nutritional assistance;

$84.7 million for temporary emergency funding in the TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) program;
$105.3 million for child care and Head Start programs.

In addition, the stimulus program provides an estimated $9.85 billion in tax cuts for individuals and businesses, including $400 per individual or $800 per couple for about 6.4 million Florida taxpayers. An expanded child tax credit also is expected to benefit up to 800,000 children of low-income Floridians.

The Governor's budget office estimates the federal spending boost (not including tax cuts) at $12.2 billion for state programs in the 2008 - 09, 2009 - 2010 and 2011 - 2012 fiscal years.

Implications for the 2009 Legislative Session

Federal stimulus funding relieves much of the pressure to enact harmful budget cuts in this year's legislative session. These federal dollars are a bridge to help us through the current economic storm. If used wisely, the new money also may free up other state dollars that can be used to prevent or restore budget reductions that have damaged vital state programs.

However, the stimulus does not eliminate the need for a comprehensive review and modernization of Florida's revenues, as the Center has recommended.

For more detailed explanations of the funding, see the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities Economy Recovery Watch series. For preliminary estimates and plans from the Governor's Office, see this memo.

Facing debt

Florida's Gov. Crist broke ranks and backed President Obama's stimulus plan, much to the dismay of his Republican colleagues in Washington, D.C. Other Republican governors have expressed similar support for Obama's plan.

Here's an interesting overview from The Daily Beast.

Should it matter who proposed the stimulus package? Should solving the nation's economy depend on what party you belong to? Tell us what you think.

The momentum is building to halt the mega deal that was devised to finance the construction of a new stadium for the Florida Marlins. It's not that people don't like the Marlins. What people don't want is to dedicate tax dollars to pay for it, expecially with the economy tanking. 

Get the facts:
Miami Today op-ed put's it all into perspective
Marlins Bailout Fact Sheet

Coalition Launches Fight to Halt Stadium Deal; Group to Host Press Conference State of County Address

MIAMI - The Coalition Against Marlins Bailout, a rapidly growing group of elected officials, community organizations, business owners and concerned citizens, will host a press conference at 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday outside The Fillmore Miami Beach to outline how the proposed baseball stadium will hurt the local economy.

Coalition members say the plan, which calls for spending a minimum of $489 million in tax dollars to build a stadium for the Florida Marlins, will rob county residents of much-needed improvements to real revenue generators like existing convention centers and other projects that will bring visitors into Miami-Dade County.

To make matters much worse, the current agreements may force the county to tap into the general revenue fund, which will have a dramatic affect on local services, parks, etc.

"The deal is simply an irresponsible one in any economic time and certainly in today's terrible economic climate," says Michael Burnstine, a Coalition member. "Taxpayers will be trapped into dealing with inevitable cost overruns while private enterprise will reap the benefits. Taxes will be diverted from much needed projects aimed to redevelop neighborhoods to benefit the Marlins."

Who: Coalition Against Marlins Bailout. Coalition members include Clergy for Change; Urban Environment League; Human Services Coalition; Miami Neighborhoods United; Democracy for America; The Workers Center; Health Care For All; Former Rep. Gus Barreiro; Philanthropist Anthony Shriver; Miami Community Activist Jack Spirk; FIU Law School Students led by Mayowa Odusanya; South Miami Commissioner Valerie Newman; Kendall Community Activist Pat Erwin; Hialeah Community Activist Mercy Dominguez.

What: Press conference outlining the rapidly rising opposition to the current Baseball Stadium Agreements to build a stadium using public dollars following the State of the County address by Mayor Carlos Alvarez

When: 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 10

Where: Fillmore Miami Beach at The Jackie Gleason Theater, 1700 Washington Ave.

For more information about The Coalition Against Marlins Bailout go to www.nomarlinsbailout.com. To set up local interviews contact Michael Burnstine at 305-531-2413.

Just what's it like to live on a very limited budget? Well, CNN is putting one of its reporters to the test. Sean Callebs reports on what it's like to live off food stamps for a month.
Follow Callebs' progress or lack there of now.

It so happends that the demand for Food Stamps is growing. Florida leads the nation in Food Stamp requests. Take a look 

The Florida Legislature made some tough decisions to get the state budget to balance. But were these hard choices too tough on kids, and lower income people of all ages? You decide.

Remember, legislators need to hear from you. Your voice sways their vote. Make your voice heard.

The following commentary comes from the The Florida Center for Fiscal & Economic Policy. 

The amended state budget passed this week by the Florida Legislature leaves the state's total budget at about $65 billion, down from more than $72 billion at its peak -- and at virtually the same level as in the 2005-06 fiscal year. (See Florida Legislature set to chop budget by $1.2 billion, Miami Herald)

"Republican leaders refused to consider raising cigarette taxes, closing tax 'loopholes' or approving Gov. Charlie Crist's gambling agreement with the Seminole Tribe that would have brought the state $137 million. The budget proposal does raise new revenue, however: Traffic fines are going up and nursing homes will pay a tax on profits. Also, legislators plan to allow local governments to pick up more of the tab to help fund Medicaid hospitals."

"Schools and social services programs will be hit hardest by $1.2 billion in budget cuts, including a $140 per-student, $466 million reduction to public schools and $130 million in Medicaid reimbursement rates to hospitals." (Lawmakers OK $2.8 billion in cuts to Florida budget, Tallahassee Democrat)

For more information about the impact of budget reductions on Florida education and services, see Florida's Escalating Fiscal Crisis: The Problem, the December report of the Florida Center for Fiscal and Economic Policy.

The new administration and changes on Capital Hill might bring much needed change to SCHIP. We are already seeing signs of improvement. Take a look at this email from The Children's Trust:

Earlier this week the U.S. House voted on the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (H.R. 2), passing it by an overwhelming vote of 289-139.

HR 2 A bill to amend title XXI of the Social Security Act to extend and improve the Children's Health Insurance Program was favorably supported by the following Florida legislators:

Rep. Allen Boyd (D.)
Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R)
Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R)
Rep. Vern Buchanan (R)
Rep. Kathy Castor (D)
Rep. Alan Grayson (D)
Rep. Alcee Hastings (D)
Rep. Suzanne Kosmas (D)
Rep. Kendrick Meek (D)
Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R)
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D)
Rep. Robert Wexler (D)
Rep. Bill Young (R)

The following legislators opposed the bill:

Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R)
Rep. Ander Crenshaw (R)
Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite (R)
Rep. John Mica (R)
Rep. Jeff Miller (R)
Rep. Bill Posey (R)
Rep. Adam Putnam (R)
Rep. Tom Rooney (R)
Rep. Cliff Stearns (R)

The Senate Finance Committee has scheduled an open executive session tomorrow to consider adoption of the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009. The legislation would be expected to move to the Senate floor for a vote shortly thereafter. The Senate bill is similar to H.R. 2 with the exception of the inclusion of immigrant children. A House provision eliminated a five-year waiting period for the children of legal immigrants so that they too are eligible for coverage under H.R. 2.

The bill is paid for by an additional 61 cents in federal tobacco taxes and is expected to cover an additional 4 million children and pregnant women. 100 million dollars in outreach funds is also provided for.

Please call and thank members of the
Florida Delegation who supported the bill:
Capitol Switch board: 1-202-224-3121
Toll Free Number: 1-800-828-0498
Ask for member to be connected.

Please contact Diana Ragbeer at diana@thechildrenstrust.org or Persephone Taylor persephone@thechildrenstrust.org should you have any questions regarding this alert.

Obama, Illinois governor backs workers in building occupation

Take Action: 

Click here to Demand A People's Bailout

http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/peoplesbailout/wi56wg34f7tmj68x?

CHICAGO, Illinois (CNN) -- Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich said Monday that the state will temporarily suspend doing business with Bank of America in an act of support for protesting factory workers who were abruptly laid off Friday.

Bank of America is the lender for a Chicago plant that gave workers three days' notice last week that they were being laid off. About 200 workers, in turn, began a peaceful sit-in Friday at Republic Windows and Doors.

"How come it's OK for some of these banks who have messed things up in a significant, substantial way that it's trickled down to impact the lives of ordinary, average Illinoisans and ordinary, average Americans who every day work?" Blagojevich said.

"Somehow, these workers always end up on the bottom. It's wrong," he said. "And if the taxpayers who do all the work in our country have already been asked to bail out these big banks, then we expect those big banks to bail out businesses like this ... to keep these workers working."

Workers said Republic officials told them that Bank of America had cut off credit to the company. Workers were given three days' notice that they were losing their jobs, but federal law requires either 60 days' notice or 60 days' pay for the laid-off workers. They are protesting, in part, over vacation and severance pay they say they are owed.

Blagojevich's pledge comes a day after President-elect Barack Obama said he supported the sit-in and condemned the way the layoffs were handled.

"No. 1, I think that these workers, if they have earned these benefits and their pay, then these companies need to follow through on those commitments," Obama said during a news conference Sunday.

"And No. 2, I think it is important for us to make sure that, moving forward, any economic plan that we put in place helps businesses to meet payroll so that we're not seeing these kinds of circumstances again."

Company executives have not commented and did not take part in a Friday meeting between the union, Bank of America and Rep. Luis Guiterrez, D-Illinois. Another meeting between bank officials and the workers is scheduled for Monday afternoon.

About 200 workers from the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America have conducted what they call a "peaceful occupation" of the plant since Friday, when their abruptly announced layoffs were supposed to take effect.

"We had started to notice things, like machines disappearing from the plant during the weekends under cover of darkness," UE member Melvin Maclin said.

"So we began asking questions, and management assured us everything was fine."

Other leading political figures in the Chicago area have turned out to support the sit-in.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, the civil rights leader, delivered turkeys to the workers Sunday, and Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Illinois, said Republic needs to follow the law and provide the required pay and benefits to the workers.

"These are 300 jobs we ought to save, a product they make we ought to save, and we need to work out something better than just saying, 'Bye-bye, workers.' That is not satisfying," she said.

Bank of America says the company has walked away and ignored its obligation to the workers. But union leaders say that since the bank received $25 billion in taxpayer funds as part of the U.S. Treasury's efforts to stabilize the financial markets, it should step in where the company has failed.

"These people would be out on the street three weeks before Christmas with nothing," national union representative Mark Meinster said. "But what's happened here is workers have decided to stand up and say no, enough is enough. You got that big bailout -- you can make sure we get the money we're owed and say, 'No, enough is enough.' "

In a statement over the weekend, Bank of America said that Republic has faced "extreme financial hardship" and that it would soon decide how to proceed.

"Neither Bank of America nor any other third-party lender to the company has the right to control whether the company complies with applicable laws or honors its commitments to its employees," it read.

Take Action: 

Click here to Demand A People's Bailout

By Guest Blogger Toufic Zakharia 

So our government decided to nationalize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. These are the free market ideologues who has advocated for liberalizing our financial system under the pretext of consumer choice and financial "creativity". They advocated for the deregulation of the financial system when in fact what they advocated for were regulations to benefit the banking sector, institutional shareholders and increase profit at the expense of the consumer. While the Feds were deregulating the Banking sector to benefit the so called consumers and  homeowners, the Feds were reducing funding for  HUD and other social services.
A house is the most valuable asset in this country and one cannot schrewdly sell subprimes loans to consumers and not think of the negatives outcomes it can have on a family and or individual.
            The reason to nationalize these two entities were to protect the taxpayers, but since when has the government ever valued the taxpayers? The current and preceding governments have always valued the institutional investors and banks at the expense of homeowners and taxpayers.
            If taxpayers were valued by our government, our government would not promote a budget that gives a meager increase of .006 % for public housing, 12.4 % increase for tenant housing, a 27% decrease for the Community Development Fund, a 21% decrease for housing for the elderly, a 46% decrease for disabled taxpayers for the 2008 budget.  When our government wants to spend 51% of the 2008 budget for the Defense Department and a total of 59.7 % when you include the Veteran Affairs and Homeland Security, you wonder, does the government really value the taxpayers?

    The opinions expressed by guest bloggers do not necessarily represent those of the Human Services                 Coalition.

Business lobby: 1, Realtor lobby: 0

So, some “grass roots” organizations cooked up a great idea recently, taking the form of Amendments 5, 7 and 9 that were supposed to come up for vote on Nov 4. Well, not really grass roots- mostly just the Florida Association of Realtors (FAR) and some behind the scenes work from Jeb Bush himself. And, actually, it wasn’t a great idea.

Amendment 5 would take a 25% to 40% cut off property owner’s taxes- or some $9 to $11 billion in local school funding statewide, according to Florida Taxwatch.

Wait a second. So they wanted to take away $9 billion in public school funds and replace only half of that amount by pushing the tax burden on the poor? Wow, its the "war on poverty" redux.

Thank God this went off the ballot. But, FAR ain’t gonna stop there. They’ve pledged to keep the fight strong for eliminating property taxes. After spending $1 million to convince Florida’s public they were getting a fair deal, their vice president John Sebree noted that “The people of Florida deserve to have their voices heard”.

Below is a blog from our friend Kevin about the other two related amendments, 7 and 9. Look for more guest blogs commming up.

-Jake Coker-Dukowitz, Advocacy Coordinator