Life in New York City is rough, and teenagers are having to face more aggressive situations that lead to hunger and poverty. What can these young people do to survive in the city? K-Rock 92.3 FM listeners can tune in tomorrow, Nov. 16, between 7 -8 a.m., to find the answer.

K-Rock Magazine host Bob Salter has invited WHY program director Noreen Springstead as well as Susan Hazeldean of Urban Justice Center and Raya Moore of Greyston to discuss the issues facing the city's teens.

Hazeldean from the Urban Justice Center will discuss the services the center provides to sustain
youths. For instance, UJC created the Peter Cicchino Youth Project to reach out to lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender youths and help them stabilize their lives. Through this project, the center has assisted thousands of teens to navigate the complicated channels of government benefits, access permanent housing, and continue their education.

Moore will talk about Greyston's training programs: Digital Media and web design, developing lifelong skills, technology education center (microenterprise, business skills, team collaboration, Child Care Center, YOKidz (web development company), YoKids Wear and the team mentoring program.

The charity Barnardo's launched a hard-hitting campaign to raise awareness of the plight of children in the United Kingdom. The campaign points to the disparity between the U.K.'s position as the fourth largest economy in the world and its claim to one of the highest levels of child poverty in the industrialized nations.

Northern Ireland has the highest level of child poverty in the U.K., with 41 percent of children affected. Even worse, in some parts of Belfast, 80 percent of children are living in homes where parents are struggling to pay bills and feed a family on very little money.

Key quote:

"Northern Ireland has a high child population with almost half-a-million falling into the 0-15 age group. In 20 per cent of households with dependent children, adults are unemployed and 38 per cent of homeless families have dependent children,'' [Fiona MacMillan] explained.

Following years of decline, participation has been on the rise for over three years, reports the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. In August 2003, the last month for which data are available, 22.3 million people participated in the food stamp program. July 2003 was the first month since June 1997 in which the number of food stamp participants exceeded 22 million, and since its recent low point in July 2000, participation has increased by 5.5 million people, or 33 percent.

What accounts for such an increase? The center credits the recent economic downturn and losses of employment as two factors in the steady rise of people participating in the food stamp program.

Action Against Hunger and 28 top New York restaurants will team up to raise money for the fight against hunger. Each participating restaurant will dedicate 50 percent of every bill to Action Against Hunger's international programs to battle the hunger and malnutrition threatening the lives of 840 million people in the world.

Miracle Bar and Grill and Miracle Grill kicked off this program last year by raising $10,000 for Action Against Hunger during a similar event. This year, they are joined by New York favorites like Sushisamba 7 and Two Boots Restaurant.

Restaurants looking to join in this great cause can contact Tom McCauley of Miracle Bar & Grill at 212-924-1900.

Action Against Hunger is an international, non-governmental, non-religious organization that was created in Paris in 1979. Since then, the organization has developed within the framework of an interdependent international network, with headquarters in France (Paris), the US (New York), the UK (London), and Spain (Madrid). In the short term, AAH addresses hunger and malnutrition by providing food and water in emergency situations. In the long term, the organization provides training in nutrition, food security, water & sanitation, and health care to ensure self-sufficiency and help rebuild communities.

Action Against Hunger is directly at work in 40 countries on 5 continents with teams of fieldworkers bringing together over 380 professionals: specialists in the fields of nutrition, agriculture, water and sanitation and public health.

Defense officials notified the services in mid-October that they intend to close 19 commissaries and may close 19 more, mostly in remote areas. At the same time, the Pentagon is finishing a study to determine whether to close or transfer control of the 58 schools it operates on 14 military installations in the continental United States, reports Army Times.

The publication aimed at military personnel went on to say that the two initiatives are the latest in a string of actions by the Bush administration to cut or hold down growth in pay and benefits, including basic pay, combat pay, health-care benefits and the death gratuity paid to survivors of troops who die on active duty.

On Veterans Day, this critique holds special weight. The Bush administration has come under fire lately for the dichotomy between its praise of soldiers and its treatment of them. For instance, the Democratic candidates geared up to Veterans Day by attacking Bush's treatment of former military personnel. By threatening to close down schools and commissaries, the Defense Department is effectively cutting more benefits to soldiers.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has made no secret of his desire to get the military out of support activities that are not central to its core war-fighting functions, said Joseph Tafoya, director of the Department of Defense Education Activity. As soon as he arrived at the Pentagon three years ago, Tafoya said, Rumsfeld began asking: "Why am I running stores? Why am I in education?"

The simplest answer would be that by disregarding military families, the Defense Department is showing disregard for soldiers.

Key quotes:

"As Marines, we take the short end of the stick in many ways," said Col. James Lowe, commander of Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va. "But when it comes to our children, we're very intolerant about them being shortchanged."

And shortchanged is exactly how military families and family advocates are feeling, said Joyce Raezer, director of government relations for the National Military Family Association. "How can leadership be talking about cutting back on quality-of-life benefits right now when the force and everyone supporting the force is at such a high stress level?" Raezer said.

"The very fact that this transfer study is being conducted at this time when Marines, sailors, soldiers and airmen and their families are increasingly required to give more of themselves and to go in harm's way is taken by many as a personal affront," [Lowe] said. "It raises serious questions about DoD’s commitment to all quality-of-life issues."

WHY is looking for Hungerthon volunteers to man the phones during Thanksgiving week. Hungerthon is WHY's largest public outreach, a New York radio broadcast educating millions of people about hunger and poverty. Listeners are encouraged to bid on auction items and learn about community-based groups that are finding solutions in their neighborhoods. Volunteers are needed for the following dates:

Sat. 11/22 5:30am-10am; Mon. 11/24 6:30am-9:00am, 8:30am-12:30pm, Noon-4:00pm, 3:30pm-6:30pm, 6pm-8:30pm; Tues. 11/25 5:30am-10am, 9:30am-1:30pm, 1pm-5pm, 4:30pm-8:30pm; and Wed. 11/26 4:30am-8:30am, 8am-noon, 11:30am-3:30pm, 3:00pm-7pm, and 6:30-10:30pm.

You can help by filling out a volunteer form and joining WHY during Hungerthon.

Homelessness is suddenly a visible problem in Beijing. For China's government, the issue always has been an embarrassment best swept under the carpet because it conflicted too visibly with the communist ideal that no citizen ever falls through the cracks. Now there has been a change of heart, with the government willing to consider that China is not so different from other societies, at least when it comes to homelessness, reports Contra Costa Times.

Now there has been a change of heart, with the government willing to consider that China is not so different from other societies, at least when it comes to homelessness. As a first step, the government rescinded a 20-year-old regulation that allowed police to detain the homeless and deport those from other provinces back to their hometowns. Four new homeless shelters have opened in Beijing, among hundreds set up across the country, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said.

This is a big change in attitude, brought about by hand-wringing over one much-publicized violent incident, but also by the reality that the government no longer can control who migrates to China's big cities, said Contra Costa Times.

The treatment of outsiders in big cities became a focal point after an incident earlier this year in which a 27-year-old graphic designer was beaten to death in a detention center for vagrants in the southern city of Guangzhou, China. He had been picked up and wrongly identified as homeless because he did not have a local residency card. The incident was publicized by the state-run media, which occasionally has the freedom to highlight certain social problems.

The whole challenge of caring for the homeless has been compounded by the communist system's refusal to allow private organizations to flourish. In a country where the Communist Party maintains control over society, there is no room for civic or church groups to operate shelters or soup kitchens. Nor are there advocacy groups for the homeless or volunteer doctors to tend to the sick on the streets.