[asia-apec 1335] Economic Human Rights Bus Tour

[Anuradha Mittal]

MEDIA ADVISORY FOR NOV. 11-12, 1999		Contact: Anuradha Mittal 
										(510) 654-4400 ext. 108


Harry Belafonte, Danny Glover, Members of Congress 
Kickoff the Economic Human Rights Tour in Atlanta

Economic Human Rights Bus Tour Calls For
Minimum Wage Increase, Universal Health Coverage

Harry Belafonte, Danny Glover and members of the Congressional 
Progressive Caucus will meet with communities throughout Georgia as part 
of an "Economic Human Rights Bus Tour". The distinguished delegation 
will kick off the tour in Atlanta on November 11, 1999, ending in 
Greensboro on November 12.

The delegation will visit a soup kitchen at Antioch Baptist Church/Food 
Pantry, a health care coalition at Grady Memorial Hospital, Georgia 
Citizen’s Coalition on Hunger, among others, to highlight the dire need 
of national policy initiatives that could make a real difference in 
peoples' lives. These stops will feature personal testimonies from 
mothers on welfare, black farmers who have filed a lawsuit against the 
USDA and members of health care, workers rights and living wage 
coalitions. 

America may be in the midst of an economic boom, but millions of 
Americans are not sharing the benefits. Over 36 million do not have 
adequate access to food. In Georgia alone, an estimated 9.7 percentage 
of households have uncertain access to food. 44.3 million Americans are 
uninsured. This trend can be attributed to cuts in social safety net. 
This past year, Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta has lost some $16.3 
million in funding due to reductions in Medicaid and Medicare. Grady 
projects that nearly $55 million will be lost over the next five years. 
The gap between the rich and poor in America is approaching its worst 
point in fifty years. Hundreds of thousands of people are still facing 
unemployment, substandard housing conditions and racial discrimination.

The tour is calling for:
o	More adequate federal funding for education, healthcare, childcare 			 
and living wage;
o	Measures to address the relationships between race and poverty;
o	A reordering of our federal priorities toward meeting the needs of 			 
our nation’s poor;
o	Ratification of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and 			 
Cultural Rights.


TOUR PARTICIPANTS:
Harry Belafonte, Danny Glover, Rep. Cynthia McKinney (GA), Rep. John 
Lewis (GA), Rep. Luis Gutierrez (IL), Rep. Barbara Lee (CA), Rep. John 
Conyers (MI) and President Jimmy Carter (Invited).


TOUR SCHEDULE:

Thursday, November 11, 1999

12:00-2:00 pm: 	Site Visit at Antioch Baptist Church/Food Pantry
Location: 540 Kennedy Street, NW, Atlanta, GA
Speakers: Members of Congress; Bus Tour organizers; Rev. C.M. Alexander 
(Chairman, Antioch Baptist Church); Bill Bolling (Director, Atlanta 
Community Food Bank); Weekly Clients (Eloise Hopper, Sydney Peterson, 
John Fletcher, Marvin Jones, Lynthiea Bates)
Focus: Increasing hunger and homelessness in Georgia

2:30-4:00 pm: 	Site Visit at Grady Memorial Hospital
Location: 800 Butler Street, SE, Atlanta, GA 30335
Speakers: Members of Congress; Bus Tour organizers; Dr. Sam Newcom; Jeff 
Graham (Executive Director AIDS Survival Project); Julia L.Perilla 
(Hispanic Health Coalition)
Focus: Crisis in healthcare

o 5:00-6:30 pm: Public Event, Georgia Citizen's Coalition on Hunger
Location: 9 Gammon Avenue, SW, Atlanta, GA
Speakers: Members of Congress; Bus Tour organizers; Tameka Wynn 
(Co-manager Umoja Farmers  Market); Carolyn Pittman (Chairperson Georgia 
Human Rights Union); William Allen (volunteer); DeWayne Boyd (President 
National Organization of Black Farmers and Legislative Assistant for 
Congressman John Conyers Jr.); and workers from soon to be closed down 
Levis factory.
Focus: Income inequalities, growing hunger and poverty, welfare reform 
are violations of most basic human rights.

Friday, November 12, 1999

9:00-10:00 am: Hip Hop 2000 School Event
Location: South West Dakalb High School, 2863 Kelley Chapel Road, 
Decatur, GA
Speakers: Stanley Henson (Principal); Rep. Cynthia McKinney (GA); 
Patricia Ireland (President, NOW); John Cavanagh (Director, IPS)
Focus: Education equity and need for head-start programs and universal 
pre-school education.

1:00-2:30 pm: Black Farmers Forum
Location: Greensboro, GA
Speakers: Melvin L. Bishop (President, Black Farmers Agriculturists 
Association); Beverly Butler (Black farmer); Cornelius Key and Heather 
Gray (Federation of Southern Cooperatives)
Focus: Racial discrimination faced by the Black farmers.

2:30-3:30 pm: Textile Factory Site Visit
Location: Greensboro, GA
Speakers: Workers adversely affected by the global economy
Focus: NAFTA and its impact on American workers, labor rights and need 
for a living wage.

The Economic Human Rights Tour is co-sponsored by the Institute for Food 
and Development Policy and the Institute for Policy Studies.

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Join the fight against hunger. For more information contact foodfirst at foodfirst.org.

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