[asia-apec 1765] MEMBERS OF CONGRESS TO JOIN FOOD FIRST TO LEAD ANTI-POVERTY TOUR IN CALI

[Anuradha Mittal]

FOODFIRST/ INSTITUTE FOR FOOD AND DEVELOPMENT POLICY


MEMBERS OF CONGRESS TO JOIN FOOD FIRST TO LEAD ANTI-POVERTY TOUR IN 
CALIFORNIA

As Economy Slows and Tax Cuts for the Rich Loom, 
Three-Day Economic Human Rights Bus Tour To Highlight Personal 
Testimonies of People Struggling To Make Ends Meet.

Oakland, May 14th, 2001 -Members of Congress will join Food 
First/Institute for Food and Development Policy on an Economic Human 
Rights Bus Tour to hear from people excluded from the economic growth of 
the 1990's. The tour starts in the Bay Area on May 29 and ends in 
Watsonville, CA May 31.

The tour will bring members of Congress and prominent activists to 
economically depressed areas in Oakland, San Francisco, Salinas and 
Watsonville to highlight the dire need for national policy initiatives 
that make a real difference in peoples' lives. Tour stops will feature 
personal testimonies from mothers on welfare and members of living wage, 
anti-hunger and homelessness coalitions 

Organizers are calling for a reordering of national budgetary priorities 
to meet the needs of the nation's poor by steering resources toward 
ending hunger and poverty and providing decent health care and education 
for all. 

1 in 5 children live in poverty in the United States, the worst record 
among all industrialized nations. 44.3 million Americans are uninsured 
and over 36 million do not have adequate access to food. The tax cut 
proposed by President Bush will further benefit the wealthy, increasing 
the gap between the rich and poor. Millions of Americans are still 
facing unemployment, homelessness, and destitution.

Supported by over 200 national organizations and endorsed by the 
Congressional Progressive Caucus, this tour, sponsored by Food 
First/Institute for Food and Development Policy, represents a powerful 
grass roots anti-poverty movement rooted in the promotion of economic 
human rights.

Among those who have agreed to participate in the tour are:

U.S. Representative Earl Hilliard (D-Alabama)
U.S. Representative Barbara Lee (D- Oakland)
Carl Pope - Executive Director, The Sierra Club
Medea Benjamin - Co-Founder, Global Exchange
Cheri Honkala - Founder and Director, Kensington Welfare Rights Union
Paul Hawken - Author and Co-founder of Smith & Hawken
Monica Moore - Executive Director, Pesticide Action Network North 
America
Eric Mar - SF School Board
Aaron Peskin - SF City Supervisor
Matt Gonzalez - SF City Supervisor
Kriss Worthington- Berkeley City Council
Tim Fitzmaurice - Mayor, Santa Cruz


For more information on the tour, please contact Nick Parker at (510) 
654-4400 ext. 229 or David Lerner at (212) 260-5000.

###

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

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