ADVISORY/Experts Available To Discuss Increase in Hunger, Homelessness in U.S. Cities.

Business Editors

ADVISORY...

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TOPIC: The U.S. Conference of Mayors surveyed 25 large U.S. cities and found requests for emergency food and shelter assistance increased this year, according to an article by The Associated Press. Requests for emergency food assistance rose 17 percent, while requests for emergency shelter assistance went up 13 percent from last year. The report cites unemployment, low wages, high housing costs and substance abuse as contributing factors for increased hunger and homelessness.

EXPERTS: ExpertSource can offer several highly qualified experts to comment on this story:

Joel John Roberts became the executive director of P.A.T.H. (People Assisting The Homeless) in 1996, when it was a single-site agency in West Los Angeles. It has become a region-wide agency serving homeless people throughout Los Angeles, Santa Monica, West Hollywood, Hollywood and the Antelope Valley. He serves as chair of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority Advisory Board, chair of the Spa 4 Metro West Coalition, executive board member of the Westside Hunger and Shelter Coalition, advisory board member of the Asian Pacific AIDS Intervention Team and a Fellow of the Zero Divide Initiative. Roberts was born July 10, 1961 in Hong Kong and adopted into an American family when he was nearly three years old. He grew up in Long Beach, California. While attending California State University, Long Beach, he traveled throughout Asia and Africa witnessing poverty and hunger in many countries, unforgettable images that steered him to serving the poor. P.A.T.H. was founded in 1984 in West Los Angeles through a coalition of churches, temples, businesses and community leaders who sought a solution to help homeless people. Rather than establish a soup kitchen or food giveaway program, this group created P.A.T.H., a program to offer homeless people a hand up, not a hand out. Today a multitude of programs help homeless people find work, save money, secure housing, and empower their lives. 323-644-2209 [e-mail]

Professor Joseph M. Conforti, of the State University of New York, Department of Sociology, is an expert on issues such as education and poverty. 516-876-3336

Professor Marcus Alexis, of Northwestern University, Kellogg School of Management, can discuss the economics of urban race and poverty. 847-467-1318 847-491-3741 (University PR Phone)

ExpertSource cannot guarantee the immediate availability of these experts or their familiarity with this specific issue.

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