Philadelphia Front Page News TV-Radio News In Brief: Philabundance hosts hunger action symposium as food insecurity rises Forward news by KYW Newsradio frontpagenews1@yahoo.com
Above: Philabundance
PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Amid rising costs and policy shifts in Washington, Philabundance hosted a hunger action symposium Friday at Rutgers University-Camden to address food insecurity.
Uncertainty was an underlying theme of the symposium as policy makers, researchers, advocates and lawmakers gathered to discuss solutions to what is expected to become a growing problem. Loree Jones Brown, CEO of Philabundance, said two years ago, about half a million people in the area the organization serves were considered food insecure. A year later, that number rose to 600,000.
"That's in the whole region if you look in the city of Philadelphia alone, 1 in 3 kids are food insecure,” said Brown. “So the numbers are actually going in the wrong direction and with what we think is going to come in terms of changes to the economy and federal policy, we're worried that that's going to go up even higher."
Salaries have not kept up with inflation, and with people losing jobs and cuts to government programs, she said they're already seeing a higher demand. Barbee Izquierdo is an advocate with Feeding America. She shared her story and her own experience of being food insecure.
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