Despite the halt in fighting in the capital Monrovia, civilians remain trapped in a city of chaos. The humanitarian situation is deteriorating further each day in Monrovia while the continuous fighting in other regions of the country threatens to re-ignite on the outskirts of the capital at any moment.

Action Against Hunger has opened a second therapeutic feeding center in the Mamba Point area, following the opening of a first center in Sinkor in June-both are located in the city of Monrovia. The organization is currently caring for 200 severely malnourished children. In addition, supplementary food is being distributed to 1100 moderately malnourished children from four sites. Many of these children are living in camps at the periphery of Monrovia where around 25,000 displaced people are living in alarming condition.

The WHY Media Guide is a unique tool specifically designed to provide capacity building assistance to community-based organizations. Since 1996, the WHY Media Guide has assisted hundreds of community-based organizations attract media attention to their work. The Guide focuses on meeting realistic publicity goals while proposing clear ideas that will not overwhelm or stress an already under-staffed organization. The Guide is designed for the layperson, providing each user with a firm and grounded working knowledge of media and publicity.

Continuing a program that began in 1998, the Institute for Research on Poverty invites applications from social science scholars from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups to visit IRP, interact with its faculty in residence, and become acquainted with the staff and resources of the Institute. The invitation extends (but is not restricted) to those who are in the early years of their academic careers. The intent of the program, which is supported by the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is to enhance the research interests and resources available to visitors, to foster interaction between resident IRP affiliates and a diverse set of scholars, and to broaden the corps of poverty researchers. Visits of one to two weeks duration by three scholars can be supported during the academic year 2003-04.

The scholars will be invited to give a seminar, to work on their own projects, and to confer with an IRP faculty host, who will arrange for interchange with other IRP affiliates. Transportation, lodging, and meal expenses will be covered by IRP. Applications will be reviewed, and the visitors selected, by the IRP Executive Committee. Interested scholars should send a letter describing their poverty research interests and experience, the proposed dates for a visit, a current curriculum vitae, and two examples of written material to Robin Snell, Institute for Research on Poverty, 1180 Observatory Drive, Madison WI 53706; fax: 608-265-3119; e-mail: rsnell@ssc.wisc.edu. Deadline for applications is October 15, 2003.

In the last several years, we have seen breathtaking changes in the demographics of rural America. Jobs have attracted new immigrant populations to areas of this country that have never seen these populations before. Meatpacking, poultry processing, corporate dairies, and traditional agricultural fieldwork are just a few of the types of employment to which this new population has been drawn.

These population changes have been particularly dramatic in the Southeast and the Midwest. There has been an especially large growth of the Latino population in both regions, and, specifically, a large growth in the population coming from Mexico. For example, the immigrant population from Mexico more than doubled in Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Indiana in the 1990s.

This population has difficulty in gaining access to important safety net programs in spite of a serious need for such assistance. A recent study of food security among Latino migrant and seasonal farmworkers in North Carolina undertaken by the Center for Latino Health Research of the Wake Forest University School of Medicine concluded that more than 56 per cent of farmworker households with children had food insecurity.

This is occurring in spite of the recent expansion of immigrant eligibility for the Food Stamp Program as well as full eligibility permitted by all low-income immigrants, regardless of status, to such important programs as the free or reduced school lunch and breakfast programs as well as the Special Women, Infants and Children Program (WIC).

A variety of barriers exist or have developed with regard to access by this new and growing population to food and nutrition (and other) programs.

Faith-Based and Community Initiatives (FBCI) is hosting a series of regional conferences on President Bush's Initiative in cities across the country. More than 8,400 faith-based and community leaders have already attended. The next White House conference will take place on Wednesday, October 29, 2003, in Memphis, TN. Interested faith-based and community groups that want to learn more about the President's Initiative should attend.