A December 15 recent radio broadcast on NPR highlighted the gap in how this country provides a social net for the poor. The “Hunger in America,” episode of On Point, hosted by Tom Ashbrook, featured guest Joel Berg, who is author of  the book “All You Can Eat: How Hungry is America” and Executive Director of the NYC Coalition Against Hunger which represents more than 1,200 nonprofit soup kitchens and food pantries in New York City. Some startling statistics:

• 25 million people in the United States rely on charities
• Two-thirds of food agencies in New York City are turning people away due to lack of food.

With more people falling below the poverty line, and the recession likely to cause even more, hunger is becoming a pressing problem in this country, and the food pantry model for addressing this situation is just not sustainable.

The problem is huge and our current solution is highly inadequate. “Trying to end hunger with canned food drives is like trying to fill the Grand Canyon with a teacup,” Berg said. “Food pantries should be a last line of support, not the first. Government has to take the lead — we can’t be handing out McBenefits that don’t cover enough for people to get by. We must return to a time of living wage jobs.”

What are the solutions?

1. Consolidating Government Programs: Food stamps and other  programs to address hunger are administered through a patchwork of government agencies with various eligibility requirements. For example there is a $13,000 annual income limit for food stamps. However, as a caller pointed out, need does not equal eligibility. With government programs run out different offices and requiring different criteria, people who are just trying to get by and often cannot keep up and as a result go hungry. Consolidating government programs under one roof would be a far more effective way of administering benefits to people like this.

2. Breakfast in Schools: With a more comprehensive approach in mind, Berg discussed expanding the breakfast schools for children, a successful program that addresses a critical need — 80% of kids nationwide don’t eat breakfast. Serving breakfast in the classroom has resulted in reduced tardiness reduced and improved attendance in addition to addressing hunger. As another benefit, this program takes the stigma off a child who is too poor to afford breakfast, and consequently can’t concentrate during the day. Solutions that address the collateral problems of the population result in other positive benefits. Read more about the concept of “cultural competency” in the blog entry: Free Technology Provides Lessons in Cultural Competency.

3. Agricultural Policy: “We need to look at how agricultural policy relates to this problem,” Berg said “If we look at history, we see that America has never had a food production problem (even during the Great Depression). The problem is people don’t have the money to buy the food. We have an over-reliance on subsidizing farmers, which has caused problems with the types of foods we produce, concentrated farming operations, and animal waste. We need to put the small and family farmer back into the process.” Local programs that are blind to the larger issues will not be sustainable in the long run. Effective nonprofits, such as Share Our Strength are learning how to combine advocacy with their programs to create systemic change. Read more about this in the Habits of High Impact Nonprofits entry.

4. Political Solutions: On the political front, Obama pledged to end child hunger by 2019. Is that possible? Berg believes it is. Kennedy started distributing food stamps again during his administration, so we know that a good president can make a difference. Obama is the only president who has grown up in a household with food stamps — perhaps an indication that the problem will finally receive the macro-level attention it deserves. Big problems demand big thinking. Nonprofits needs to provide leadership to businesses, government and the public in addressing global social issues. More on this in future blog entries – I welcome your comments on these issues.

WAKE-UP CALL: What were once established as stop-gap measures for society’s largest problems have become default solutions. As a society, we need to re-address our most fundamental social problems. Most realistically, this will be accomplished through a combination of government, public sector and private support. Nonprofits have the understanding of the issues and possess the hands-on expertise to address these issues and create large-scale social change. Now is the time for nonprofits to start playing a leadership role in society.

RESOURCE: www.nyccah.org

On October 24, 2008, the Columbia School of Business held a conference titled “The Moment of Now: Market Innovations in Social Enterprise” to explore themes in the emerging sector of social enterprise. In this session on Cultivating Effective NGO-Business Partnerships, Gordon Peterson (second from left),  VP of Corporate Social Responsibility for The Timberland Company, squared off with two nonprofits: Allison Clements (left), Corporate Counsel for the Natural Resources Defense Council, and Kyle Cahill, Director of Corporate Engagement at the Environmental Defense (third from left), moderated by Alan Webber, Founder of Fast Company magazine.

Ever since EDF helped McDonald’s to go green with their packaging, both of these nonprofits have shed their “sue the bastards” stance and now with work corporations to help them green their businesses. This shift is in recognition of the large role that corporations play in our society. For example, the Wal-Mart supply chain encompasses 65,000 suppliers and constitutes the 20th largest economy in the world, so a change in their environmental policies can have a huge rippling effect down the line.

However, wary of being used for greenwashing, both NRDC and Environmental Defense only work with corporations that can provide a sustainable model of change that can be leveraged across an entire sector. EDF insists that the outcomes for the corporations they work with be verifiable, measurable, and replicable, in order to provide this industry-wide model.

Gordon addressed Timberland’s efforts to go green and their need for the practical know-how from environmental organizations and consultants. Their initiatives include internal programs such as Earthkeepers rewards to encourage employees to reduce the company’s 2006 energy usage levels by 50% in 2010, an initiative with Share Our Strength in which chefs wear Timberland shoes, and a carbon footprint labeling program to explain the manufacturing impact of their shoes to consumers, a particular initiative he hopes will inspire other manufacturers to adopt.

WAKE UP CALL: How can your business or nonprofit create methods for sustainability in a way that can provide a model for an entire industry?