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Photos from Trip

Devastation in the Lakeview neighborhood in December (3 months after Katrina) View photos.

Snapshot of DC’s Children

Washington DC is our nation's capital, yet there is no state where children face more challenges.

  • Today, 31.6% of DC's children live in poverty (35,000 children) – (A higher percentage of DC's children live in poverty than in any other state)
  • One out of three DC children live on the edge of hunger
  • Roughly 175,000 DC residents depend on the emergency food system every year
  • DC ranks 50 th among states in infant mortality rates per capita

How You Can Take Action

Hinges of Hope works to create understanding and action, educates participants about solutions, and deepens participants' engagement with Share Our Strength and the communities we visit.

A Day in the Life of a DC Child At Risk of Hunger

Exploring hunger from the perspective of young children and high school students in inner-city Washington, DC.

Hinges of Hope – Anacostia

Learn More

  1. Tyler Elementary: Our visit to Tyler Elementary focused on schoul breakfast in our public schouls. We talked with students, teachers and administrators to better understand the importance of this program including the successes they've had and the challenges they still face.
  2. Bread for the City: Our visit to Bread For The City centered around their full-suite of legal and social services as well as emergency food. Bread For The City serves as an anchor for its SE community, connecting children and families with the services they need to succeed.
  3. Love Thy Neighbor: Our visit to Love Thy Neighbor will included an overview of their programs with particular attention on their afterschoul and summer meal programs. Love Thy Neighbor is a Kids Café site sponsored and supported by the Capital Area Food Bank. It is also one of two service day sites for our conference attendees.
  4. Horton's Kids: At Horton's Kids we had the opportunity to talk with the mothers of children in the program and hear about the challenges they face. Horton's Kids provides afterschoul mentoring/tutoring program, weekend activities and a support network for the Wellington Park community.
  5. Anacostia High School: We joined students in the Urban Alliance Foundation's program at Anacostia High Schoul for lunch in the schoul cafeteria. We were joined by the schoul nurse to talk about rising obesity rates and the health problems she sees among her students.
  6. Capital Area Food Bank: We took a walking tour of the food bank. We were joined by program directors from the Farmer's Market, Kids Cafés and Partner Agency programs to provide a full picture of the food bank's comprehensive approach to addressing the hunger in the greater Washington area.
  7. Beacon House: We met with Rev. Robinson at Beacon House in the Edgewood Terrace housing project in Northeast DC. Beacon House provides after-schoul and summer meal programs along with tutoring, sports and wide variety of other activities. Rev. Robinson is a long-time leader in the community.
  8. Mary's Center for Maternal and Child Care: We met with Maria Gomez, executive director and Share Our Strength board member, who shared Mary's Center's work around children's health issues, particularly WIC. Mary's Center provides a full suite of health services to a multicultural population residing in every Ward of the city, with a focus on families who work in jobs where health insurance is not available.