Social Justice

Jane Holish & Gabby Kilpatrick

"Basic Needs"

As the "Basic Needs" team, we were challenged this semester to think about what basic needs are and how they are an important pillar of social justice. The idea that every single person has the right to have their basic needs met is sometimes perceived as radical. Until the necessities for survival are filled, only then will people be able to thrive and find their place in society.

What made our week volunteering a truly unique experience was being able to see how the Supportive Housing Campus addressed so many essential needs in one place. Many shelters or affordable housing sites don't have the capacity to offer all of these things in one place, and with transportation often being such a barrier, the most at-risk populations will have to choose between which basic necessities to prioritize. With their affordable housing units, food/hygiene pantry, laundry room, kitchens, clothing/shoe closet, and even a library all on-site, the YMCA Supportive Housing Campus has ensured the accessibility of these services.

We also came to understand that basic needs are more than just material things. At the Y, the staff and volunteers are committed to not only providing residents with these resources but an environment that empowers them with a sense of dignity and community.

Basic needs as a whole has many different potential approaches, with some considering just food, water, and shelter as the basics while others consider an extended list of hygiene, comfort, transport, and employment. Social and cultural views in different communities has a large impact on how individuals feel towards basic needs, leading to many different change creating initiative potentials.

Homelessness & Housing Justice

Housing justice is the right of all people to access stable, safe, affordable housing, no matter their income. It is the central belief that no one should have to worry about where they're going to lay their head at night. Communities of color in the US, particularly BIPOC communities, face homelessness and housing insecurity at higher rates. This inequality not only reflects disparity in rates of poverty, but centuries of housing discrimination, redlining, and racist policies that are deeply entrenched. While homelessness is a systematic issue affected in large by those in power in government, the Y is an example of how a community can take back the power in providing affordable housing. The variety of local donations and volunteers that put their time into the Y shows how if everyone gives what they have to contribute, using their unique gifts and passions, lasting change in the community can be felt.

Hunger & Food Insecurity

Despite being heavily connected, Food Insecurity and Hunger are considered two separate concepts, with hunger being a potential side effect of food insecurity (Wunderlich & Norwood, 2006).

Food Insecurity

Food insecurity is when nutritionally adequate and safe foods or the ability to obtain said foods in a socially acceptable way are uncertain or limited, and can often be measured in three ways: food secure, food insecure without hunger, and food insecure with hunger (Wunderlich & Norwood, 2006). Uncertain, unacceptable, and insufficient availability, access, or utilization of food are the house-hold level concepts used to measure food insecurity, which means that households, and not individuals, can be classified as food insecure even if only one individual in the household is considered food insecure (Wunderlich & Norwood, 2006).

In the United States food insecurity is often used to measure and refer to both the social and economic problem of lack of food caused by limited resources and other restraints and excluding dieting, voluntary fasting, or due to illness (Wunderlich & Norwood, 2006). Food insecurity is not only caused by uncertain or limited resources and can also stem from an inability to use food due to other constraints, such as restricted physical capacities by those with disabilities or the elderly (Wunderlich & Norwood, 2006). In order to fully understand food insecurity, integration of both frequency and duration must be considered due to the connection of long-term periods of food insecurity indicating a more serious issue, including health hazards for those at risk (Wunderlich & Norwood, 2006).

Source: Talk Business & Politics

Hunger

While being connected to food insecurity, hunger differs in that it is considered an individual-level concept, with the Household Food and Security Survey Module (HFSSM) not measuring or including items in relation to being hungry (Wunderlich & Norwood, 2006). Hunger, according to the Life Sciences Research Office (LSRO), is conceptually defined as "The uneasy or painful sensation caused by a lack of food, the recurrent and involuntary lack of access to food. Hunger may produce malnutrition over time..." (Anderson, 1990). Food insecurity is not caused by hunger, but hunger is considered to be a consequence of food insecurity.

Aiming Towards Food Security

As of 2020, according to the United States Department of Agriculture, 10.5% of households are considered food insecure, an unchanged number from 2019 ("Key Statistics & Graphics", 2021). Aiming toward food security is becoming a worldwide goal, not just in the United States. People that are homeless, in poverty, or on the poverty line are at a sustainable risk to experiencing hunger and food insecurity. Stopping hunger everywhere is a lofty goal, but with the assistance of individuals, corporations, groups, and the government, it can hopefully be attainable in the future. Organizations of every background have been reported doing what they can to help, from church groups running weekly large meal offerings to businesses offering the ability to round up change to donate to food shelters. Volunteering to help stop hunger does not have to come solely from monetary assistance and donations, assisting in the creation of signs, posters, and pamphlets or just word of mouth are all valid and helpful ways to be a part of making a change.

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