2014-15 ANNUAL REPORT
REPORT CONTENTS 03
PROGRAM IMPACT
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REAL CHANGE
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EDUCATION
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FINANCIALS
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OUR TEAM THANK YOU
PROGRAM IMPACT
1in7 people in Allegheny County have trouble putting food on the table
KEEPING FOOD ON THE TABLE
How Just Harvest Reduced Poverty and Hunger in Our Community in 2014-15 HEALTHY FOOD
PUBLIC BENEFITS
INCOME
Our Fresh Access program enabled food stamp, credit, and debit purchases of fresh local farm produce. In 2014, 3,000 shoppers spent $95,000 with 90 local vendors at 9 farmers markets.
We boosted access to critical public benefits like SNAP/food stamps, cash assistance, and LIHEAP, helping 1,295 households (1,799 people) with food stamp applications and benefits case advocacy.
Our free tax preparation program completed over 2,700 income tax returns and refunded over $5.6 million to low-income families, including $4.6 million in tax credits.
7,905 VOLUNTEER HOURS
439 MEMBERS MOBILIZATION
EDUCATION
ADVOCACY
LOBBYING
COMMUNITY IMPACT Minimum Wage, Subsidized Child Care, School Meals, Earned Income Tax Credit, Food Deserts, Healthy Corner Stores, Government Budget Priorities, Tax Fairness, Food Stamps, WIC, Benefits Cliff, Summer Food, Payday Lending, Asset Tests, Voting, Barriers to Benefits, Sustainable Food Systems
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REAL CHANGE BARRIERS TO BENEFITS PROGRESS The PA Department of Human Services (DHS) continues to respond to our ongoing campaign for sorely-needed improvements to customer service. DHS is expanding availability of whileyou-wait scanning and receipts for clients’ documents to cut down on lost paperwork and unnecessary delays in benefits. In addition, the improved Call Center is being closely monitored, with reports showing decreasing telephone wait times and fewer dropped calls.
PA ELIMINATES FOOD STAMP ASSET TEST Just Harvest along with our fellow anti-hunger advocates in Pennsylvania pushed Governor Tom Wolf to end the state’s resource test for food stamp applicants, which had unfairly blocked tens of thousands of households in need from receiving food stamps since being put in place by former Gov. Tom Corbett in 2012.
HEAT & EAT VICTORY FOR PA Last year Congress made major cuts in the “Heat-and-Eat” provision that enables states to boost some households’ food stamp benefits based on the share of their housing costs spent on heat. As those cuts took effect, Just Harvest and our advocacy partners throughout the state successfully persuaded the Corbett administration to use surplus energy assistance funds to maintain Heat-and-Eat in PA for 2014 and 2015.
ACTION AGAINST HUNGER In early 2015, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey met with Just Harvest and other PA advocates, including Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, SWPA Food Security Partnership, Witnesses to Hunger/Drexel University, Central PA Food Bank, and Feeding Pennsylvania, and took our testimony to the Senate floor to oppose federal cuts to food stamps (SNAP).
IMPROVING ACCESS TO FRESH, HEALTHY FOOD Our leadership within the Pittsburgh Food Policy Council helped that coalition expand its visibility, hire its first staff members, and advance its working relationships with city and county government. Twenty-two organizations, educational institutions, and government agencies are now represented on the Council. And we are partnering with the Allegheny County Health Department to implement an exciting Healthy Corner Store initiative to expand access to fresh fruits and vegetables for people living in food deserts.
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ADVANCING CITY AGENDA ON FOOD & HUNGER Just Harvest joined fellow anti-hunger and food policy advocates in forging a powerful partnership with the City of Pittsburgh, reaping important results: ➢ The City is bringing new afterschool meals programs to its recreation centers and expanding and promoting its summer food program for children as part of a National League of Cities initiative. ➢ All Citiparks farmers’ markets will accept food stamps and other electronic transactions through Just Harvest’s Fresh Access program. ➢ City zoning changes will make it easier for residents to raise their own chickens, bees, and garden crops, thanks to leadership from Grow Pittsburgh and the Pittsburgh Food Policy Council.
We launched a re-branding campaign that emphasizes action and progress, builds on our history, and raised our public visibility.
CUTTING THROUGH PARTISAN GRIDLOCK IN HARRISBURG In 2014, Just Harvest made exciting progress in engaging state Republican leaders on hunger- and poverty-related issues through our work with Indiana County Rep. Dave Reed. Now the House Majority Leader, Reed is developing bi-partisan legislation to address the “benefits cliff” – protecting people from losses of critical benefits as they move into low-wage jobs. After years of advocacy by Just Harvest and our allies to support access to education as a key to long-term self-sufficiency, Republican Rep. Jim Christiana has introduced HB 934. The bill would give legislative authority to the KEYS program, which enables people to keep their Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) benefits while pursuing a degree for up to two years.
EDUCATION MEDIA IMPACT
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newspaper and radio reports quoting Just Harvest staff
93
blog posts on our website
33%
growth in Facebook followers
61%
growth in Twitter followers
Story-banking—key to dispelling myths about who goes hungry and why—grew by leaps and bounds this year with the addition of 27 client portraits, 14 stories, and a video.
FUEL 4 SCHOOL CAMPAIGN Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) is a new element of federal Child Nutrition Program rules that allows schools in high-poverty areas to serve free breakfast and lunch to all students. Through our partnership with the Congressional Hunger Center, Just Harvest hosted a Bill Emerson National Hunger Fellow to conduct research on and build support for local adoption of CEP. With grassroots support from allies including Southwest PA Food Security Partnership, A+ Schools, Family Support Centers, as well as input from focus groups, principals, and parents, we helped several school districts plan for CEP. In the first school year for CEP, 86% of eligible schools in Allegheny County have adopted the provision, providing universal access to breakfast and lunch to over 41,000 students.
This year, Just Harvest has been part of 9 poverty simulations totaling over 600 participants from the McKeesport School District, Circles Program, East Liberty Presbyterian Church, Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, and Duquesne University School of Nursing.
COMMUNITY ORGANIZING In 2014, Just Harvest maximized our community impact through policy trainings, building awareness, and grassroots engagement. We: ➢ Launched a Power Lunch policy round table series for local partner organizations including ACTION-Housing, YWCA, Allegheny County Dept. of Human Services, Helping Hands Ministries (Circles Program), and Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank; ➢ Gave presentations about the hunger problem to diverse student groups from first grade to graduate schools; ➢ Developed the training program for the United Way’s Money In Your Pocket Coalition staff and volunteers; ➢ Organized and mobilized our low-income clients and others for grassroots action.
CONNECTING WITH NEW GROUPS Thanks to the New York City Coalition Against Hunger, our team includes three full-time AmeriCorps VISTA’s. With their help, we’ve developed new partnerships with Operation Safety Net, Community Kitchen Pittsburgh, and Allegheny Children’s Initiative to integrate our food stamp help into their services for homeless people, previously incarcerated individuals, and families with disabilities. In our Fresh Access program, we’ve worked to make farmers markets more welcoming and accessible to new Pittsburghers. Local partners Casa San Jose and the Bhutanese Community Association of Pittsburgh translated our marketing materials into Spanish and Nepali and we acquired and distributed seeds for culturally appropriate produce for innovative local farmers to plant and sell. 5
FINANCIALS STATEMENT OF ACTIVITIES From Audited Financial Statements for the year ended December 31, 2013. A CENTER FOR ACTION EDUCATION FUND ACTION AGAINST HUNGER
REVENUE AND SUPPORT Grants $ - $408,696 Contracted Services $ - $17,500 Dues and contributions $38,030 $24,496 Fundraising Events and Other $45,270 $10,145 Total $83,300 $460,837
EXPENSES Program Services $48,018 $327,789 Administrative and General $11,899 $35,579 Fundraising $7,411 $25,650 Total $67,328 $389,018
REVENUE AND SUPPORT
Grants Contracted Services Dues and contributions Fundraising Events and Other
EXPENSES
Program Services Administrative and General Fundraising
Copies of Just Harvest’s official registration and financial information may be obtained from the PA Dept. of State by calling toll-free within PA (800) 732-0999. Registration does not imply endorsement.
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THANK YOU BOARD OF DIRECTORS
STAFF Emily Cleath Communications Coordinator
AMERICORPS VISTAS
Sr. Barbara Finch President
Helen Gerhardt Food Stamp Specialist
Julia Lauritzen Kaitlan Mahoney
Fran Gruden Vice President
Rochelle Jackson Public Policy Advocate
Dylan Molloy
Mary Elizabeth McCarthy Secretary Alexander Carlisle Treasurer Jeffrey Anderson Paulette Battisti Sara Bennett Barbara Coffee Jeannette Hickman Steven Irlbacher Gabriel McMorland Theresa Orlando Thanks to Keith Caldwell whose term ended in the past year.
FUNDERS Allegheny County Bar Foundation Birmingham Foundation Department of Human Services FRAC Giving2Grow Howard & Nell E. Miller Foundation MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger National League of Cities Neighborhood Allies PA Department of Agriculture Pittsburgh Community Kitchen Pittsburgh Foundation State Voices The Pittsburgh Foundation United Jewish Federation United Way of Allegheny County University of Pittsburgh - GSPIA US Department of Agriculture
Ken Munz Operations Coordinator Maria Muzzie Grassroots Organizer Carla Payne-Harrison Food Stamp Specialist Ken Regal Executive Director Ann Sanders Volunteer Coordinator Emily Schmidlapp Fresh Access Coordinator Heather Seiders Office Manager James Tedrow Food Stamp Specialist Kristie Weiland Stagno Tax Campaign Coordinator
EVENT SPONSORS BNY Mellon Corp. Chatham University CreditVest, Inc. Gateway Health Plan GENCO Highmark Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh Louis F. Leeper Company PJ Dick & Trumbull Peoples Natural Gas PNC Bank PNC Financial Services Group TeleTracking Technologies, Inc. United Steelworkers of America University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work
EMERSON HUNGER FELLOW David Blount
INTERNS Joshua Berman Becky Boll Alyson Caito Rishi Chebrolu Maria Evans Kristen Hochreiter Jillian Myers Ankur Sakaria Dawn Marie Smith
MEMBERS Just Harvest is grateful for our 439 active members who donated over $50,000 in 2014. Your generosity, ranging from $5.00 to $2,500 makes our work possible.
VOLUNTEERS Thank you to our 191 volunteers who donated 7,905 hours to make our work successful.
TAX STAFF Sara Bennett Stephanie Bennett Mary Grace Diana Ed Heath Lauren Hill Barbara Jakab Marrissa Johnson Kellie Kasbee Ke Li Rena Saimoto Vaughn Schmid Kathleen Sheehan Kay Tanney Janet Willoughby
TAX INTERNS Arturo Dakota Singh Harprit Guo Li Pritchard Stephen Wu Weilun Zhang Wenwen Li Zijun
GRASSROOTS FUNDRAISERS Bar Marco Food Truck Roundup Chili’s East End Food Cooperative Eleven Franktuary Tim Stevens Jazz Concert Waverly Presbyterian Church Whole Foods
Just Harvest Education Fund is a proud a partner agency of the United Way of Allegheny County. The United Way’s Impact Fund enables us to expand and strengthen our efforts to help low-income people access the public safety-net benefits they need.
UPMC Health Plan
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OUR MISSION To educate, empower, and mobilize the citizens of our community toward the elimination of hunger and economic injustice in our communities by influencing public policy, engaging in advocacy, and connecting people to public benefits.
16 Terminal Way Pittsburgh, PA 15219 (412) 431-8960 www.justharvest.org facebook.com /JustHarvest
twitter.com /JustHarvest
youtube.com /PAJustHarvest