Food Assistance: How Our Politics Shape the Way We Help

The third forum of the spring 2015 series "Food Justice." Michael Gillespie, assistant professor of sociology at Eastern Illinois University, traced federal food policy from Depression-era surplus commodities through the Great Society, Reagan-era cuts and 1996 welfare reform, and the farm-lobby bargain behind food stamps. Andrea Rundell, executive director of the YWCA and formerly of the Eastern Illinois Foodbank, then examined how beliefs about "deserving" poverty shape local food pantry practice, citing Champaign County food-insecurity data. Program coordinator Dominic Arnold introduced the speakers. Audience Q&A followed.