Jamie Oliver

Obesity is the New HIV

Posted by David Montalvo

Fighting ObesityJamie Oliver is doing it. Michelle Obama is doing it. And now Yvette Clarke is doing it.

They are fighting against America’s staggering childhood obesity rate.

It’s the latest priority on Clarke’s appropriations request for next year, and it is one that rivals her usual priorities to Jewish and Caribbean communities.

But the good news comes with mixed feelings. One group that didn’t make the list after receiving strong support last year is at-risk gay and lesbian youth.

In her previous request for appropriations that would be used for spending this year, Rep. Yvette Clarke sought $2 million for a project by the Gay Men’s Health Crisis to launch an HIV prevention campaign for at-risk youth.

The project “is a valuable use of taxpayer funds because over 850 clients in the 11th Congressional District will have access to services,” said Clarke in her request.

Indeed, the issue was so pressing that the money she requested for the program was the highest in its category (Commerce, Justice, and Science), and for any individual request made in the Energy and Water, Financial, and Homeland Security categories.

Of the 30 individual requests for 2010, the HIV prevention campaign ranked number seven fiscally – behind a cyber security infrastructure project and funding for the NYPD.

But in her 2011 fiscal year appropriations request, the at-risk gay and lesbian youth were missing – even as other projects, particularly those serving Jewish and Caribbean communities, both large populations in NY-11, stayed put.

What appears to have replaced youth at risk for HIV are those at risk for obesity.

Girls Incorporated ($500,000), GrowNYC ($230,000), St. John’s Bread and Life Program ($300,000), the City Parks Foundation ($150,000), and the Sports and Arts in School Foundation ($300,000) are all called obesity-fighting programs in Clarke’s appropriations request – and they’re all new to this year’s list.

According to Clarke, each program is “a valuable use of taxpayer funds” because:

  • Girls Incorporated will help “meet the goals of the new national childhood obesity initiative;”
  • GrowNYC will create “jobs for teens” and “reduce the health costs associated with diabetes, obesity and heart disease;”
  • St. John’s program “addresses the obesity epidemic;”
  • City Parks Foundation will serve “communities plagued by high rates of obesity;”
  • Sports and Arts will focus on the “high rates of childhood obesity” because it’s one of the “greatest threats to young people.”

Obesity can be life-threatening and addressing it is important. But so is HIV.

While it is uncertain whether Gay Men’s Health Crisis or other HIV prevention programs requested funds for 2011, one thing is clear: Clarke understands the ongoing need for funding of those campaigns.

Such programs, she said last year, “provide life saving services crucial in the fight to reverse the alarming rate of infection among youth in New York City.”

According to the New York City Department of Health, more than 100,000 New Yorkers are living with HIV and thousands don’t know they’re infected, making New York City the epicenter of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the U.S.

And though $2 million was requested for Gay Men’s Health Crisis, it ultimately received a smaller amount, $1.5 million, according to an appropriations-received report.

The fight against the “alarming rate” of HIV, therefore, is far from over – but one wouldn’t know that from Clarke’s latest appropriations request.

Health Care Reform Passes: "Lunch Ladies" Defeated

Posted by David Montalvo

219 House Democrats passed a landmark health care reform bill late Sunday evening – as Jamie Oliver travelled to the most obese city in America to promote healthier eating habits on his new show “Food Revolution” on ABC – that is meant to benefit tens of thousands of uninsured residents in New York Congressional District 11 in Brooklyn.

The interactive graph above shows how the bill will affect the district, by the numbers.

“This bill gives Americans more choices and brings down health care costs for everyone,” said Rep. Yvette Clarke, who voted for the bill.

Indeed, the bill may also benefit 367,000 of her constituents with health insurance through improvements in their coverage, and more than 11,000 small business in her district are targeted to receive tax credits to afford health insurance, she said.

(Read my previous post for an analysis of why Rep. Clarke voted for health care reform.)

The timing for Food Revolution’s preview perhaps couldn’t have been more impeccable.

Jamie Oliver, the British chef who helped transform the public lunch program in the U.K. through the show’s British version, was faced in West Virginia by a tough, punchy “lunch lady” who refused to change from her ways of serving frozen pizza, processed foods and just-add-water mashed potatoes.

The idea of preparing and serving fresh food everyday to kids seemed not only impossible to her, but perhaps worse, she didn’t think the kids would like it – so why even try to feed them better, more nutritious food?

Change is never easy. The year-long kicking and scratching between Democrats and Republicans over health care reform is evident of that, if nothing else. But President Obama and Congress, like Jamie Oliver, have decided to take on the Republican “lunch ladies” in the interest of a better, healthier America.

The reconciled health care reform bill, which includes the backing of Pro-Life Caucus Democrats, still needs approval by a simple majority in the Senate before landing on President Obama’s desk.

“Tonight after nearly 100 years of talk and frustration,” said Obama around 12:42 a.m. on Monday, “we proved that this government of the people and by the people is still for the people.”

Though no House lunch ladies voted for the bill – including all Republicans and some Democrats – it’s still unclear if they’ll become fans of “Food Revolution.”