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TANF
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) is a program of the federal government that provides crucial short-term financial assistance for families living in poverty.
The major purposes of TANF (as articulated by the US Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families) are to assist needy families so that children can be cared for in their own homes; reduce the dependency of needy parents by promoting job preparation, work and marriage; preventing out-of-wedlock pregnancies; and encouraging the formation and maintenance of two-parent families.
Sudan
The ongoing conflict in Sudan’s western region of Darfur is, according to the United Nations, one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. The situation there pits government-armed and supported Arab militia groups, known as Janjaweed, against unarmed black Africans in Darfur.
Since 2003, some 400,000 black Africans have been killed and another 2.5 million forced to flee their homes in the Janjaweed’s brutal campaign of burning villages, poisoning water supplies and razing crops. The Janjaweed’s scorched earth policy has destroyed more than 50% of all villages in Darfur (a region approximately the size of France), devastating lives, destroying agriculture and compromising future harvests.
The crisis in Sudan has precipitated a severe hunger emergency. Malnourishment and starvation are constant threats that are exacerbated by the country’s harsh climate. With swift action, the U.S. government can prevent millions of unnecessary deaths due to hunger and disease.
Millennium Development Goals
In 2000, the world community came together under the auspices of the United Nations to discuss ways to alleviate human suffering across the globe. This past September, U.N. member nations gathered in New York City to discuss progress on these goals and future implementation.
In keeping with the U.N. Millennium Development Goals, the United States should do its part to help. The goals include: reducing the number of people suffering from hunger by half; ensuring that all children complete a full course of primary schooling; eliminating gender disparity in primary and secondary education; reducing by two thirds the mortality rate among children under five; reducing by three quarters the maternal mortality ratio; halting and reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS and other major diseases; reversing the loss of environmental resources; reducing by half the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water; and addressing the least developed countries’ special needs in trade
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