About a dozen people attended the workshop, which included members of Albuquerque Mennonite Church, Annunciation Catholic Church, Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, La Mesa Presbyterian Church, Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Catholic Community, St. Andrew Presbyterian Church, St. John XXIII Catholic Community, St. Paul Lutheran Church and St. Timothy Lutheran Church. Most of these churches also participated in our 2018 letter-writing campaign, which yielded 1, 353 letters to Congress on protecting safety-net domestic nutrition programs.
The topic of this year's letter-writing campaign is very straightforward. We are asking Congress to pass legislation to establish a new, scaled-up approach to global nutrition. Passage of a bill or resolution will strengthen U.S. commitment to global child nutrition and will lead other countries to join us in the global effort to end hunger.
Still, there were some questions. For example, one participant asked whether the legislation Bread supports would target the health of a child before he/she is born. This would mean an emphasis on providing nutrition for expectant mothers.
The answer is yes, of course. The 1,000 Days Campaign, which provides a model for global nutrition initiatives, takes into account the health of a child from the beginning of a mother's pregnancy to the boy or girl's second birthday. "Nutrition programs for pregnant women and young children are highly cost effective. Every dollar spent on them produces on average a $16 return from reduced health care costs and people's improved ability to participate in the labor market," says the Hunger and Poverty Facts section of the four-page position paper on this year's Offering of Letters.
E-Mails, Handwritten Letters and Lobby Day(s)
There were also discussions on whether e-mails are effective, on the timing of letters, and on the mechanics of delivering the actual letters to Congress. We agreed that electronic communications are a relevant way to connect with legislators, but that messages should be personalized and that a postal mailing address should be provided.
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| St. Timothy Lutheran members |
Along those lines, we are working on setting up local visits in Albuquerque to the offices of Rep. Debra Haaland, Sen. Martin Heinrich and Sen. Tom Udall, in conjunction with Bread for the World's Lobby Day, which is on June 11. At least two people from Albuquerque are planning to visit Capitol Hill on that day. Several churches and one synagogue (along with a national representative from MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger) organized a local Lobby Day in June 2017.
One of the two people planning to attend Lobby Day in Washington this year is Kara Bobroff, a new member of Bread for the World's board of directors. The visit to Capitol Hill would coincide with the summer board meeting. I (Carlos Navarro) also plan to attend Lobby Day.
Bobroff, founding principal of the Native American Community Academy (NACA) in Albuquerque, was a special guest at our Offering of Letters workshop. She spoke on strategies to engage Native American communities in our anti-hunger work in New Mexico and elsewhere. "As far as getting more Native American communities involved [in anti-hunger efforts], the focus on children is one of the primary ways to do that," said Bobroff. She pointed out that ensuring that children have adequate nutrition is a universal goal for communities across the globe.
In part because of her great success with NACA (which serves as a model for Native communities elsewhere in the country) and her 30-year track record in education, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham earlier this year appointed Bobroff as one of the deputy secretaries of New Mexico Public Education Department (PED). "She helped to create a network school scorecard to provide a more holistic view of school and student success in order to guide future educational growth," said a press release from Gov. Lujan Grisham's office.
Bobroff spoke enthusiastically about a new initiative in this year's 60-day session of the New Mexico State Legislature that created a new early education agency. The Early Childhood Education Department, which was approved by the State Legislature, would develop programs for infants and young children up to age 4. The programs would include home visits for families, child care assistance and prekindergarten. "I think there might be way to have the efforts of [local Bread advocates] connect with some the programming with women and children at that age level," said Bobroff.
So how did Bobroff become acquainted with Bread for the World? She learned about the organization while serving with Bread president David Beckmann on former President Barack Obama's Advisory Council for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Beckmann asked her to consider becoming a member of the Bread board, and she accepted an invitation to be part of the ballot for the board of directors. She became a member of the board, beginning on Jan. 1, 2019.
As a new board member, it was very valuable for Bobroff to meet with some grassroots members at our Offering of Letters workshop. "It's interesting to know the work that you're doing locally, but also what's happening at the other levels as well," she told participants at the workshop.
Here is a four-minute clip of Bobroff's talk at our local Offering of Letters workshop. (Ivan Westergaard of St. Paul Lutheran Church and Rena Dragoo of Immaculate Conception Catholic Church look on).
