“Feeding is not a crime. Living in poverty and being poor is not a crime.”
In October 2023, Alexandra Martinez reported on how Food Not Bombs Movement activists in Florida face criminal charges for sharing food with the houseless community. The West Palm Beach City Council implemented an ordinance earlier in March requiring a permit for feeding people during large group events.
Similar feeding bans are happening across Florida, a state with the third-largest houseless population in the country. In Miami, people can be fined up to $250 for feeding the houseless without a permit. “This city feels like we're supposed to be segregated,” says one Miami resident in the film. Community members and housing advocates seek to reject and legally challenge the permit requirement—until then, food and housing justice fall into criminal activity cited by the police.
The video was produced by Prism's Senior News Reporter Alexandra Martinez, filmed by Mileydy Artiles, with support from Oolite Arts.
You can find more of Alexandra Martinez's work in “El Soldador,” a short documentary featuring a houseless welder who contemplates his health after receiving care from doctors at Miami Street Medicine. “El Soldador” premieres today, April 12, at Miami Film Festival.
Prism is hiring a News Editor!
THIS JUST IN: Prism is hiring a News Editor!
Are you an organized leader with a passion for justice and a nose for news? We're looking for a new team member to oversee Prism’s daily news storytelling and journalists!
📰 The ideal candidate has a vision for building out the newsier side of Prism’s overall coverage
🕓 This role is a salaried, full-time position with benefits
💻 Like all of Prism’s team, this role is fully remote
🌎 We will consider candidates based anywhere within the U.S.
🗓️ Applications are due April 7 and will be reviewed on a rolling basis
Read the full job description and find more information about Prism's work at the link in our bio, or at https://prismreports.org/about/jobs/
Prism on Pause
💐 🌸 🌷 PRISM ON PAUSE 🌷 🌸 💐
Rest is an essential practice—one that gives us space to breathe, to dream, and to heal. At Prism, rest is also a regular practice integral to our newsroom and the organization’s culture. And so, for the third year in a row, Prism is on pause. From April 24 through April 28, our offices will be closed, and we won’t be publishing any new reporting.
All of us at Prism believe deeply in our responsibility to cover and contextualize the news as it unfolds. As an independent newsroom led by journalists of color, we’re a team of people who come from the communities we report on. This means we are acutely aware of the trauma of living in systems of oppression and the toll it takes on our bodies and minds. Tending to our mental and physical health is more than a privilege or luxury—it is imperative to sustaining the rigor and care that our journalists, readers, and larger community need. Over the last year, we’ve invested more deeply in cultivating a regular rest practice, most notably by adopting a four-day workweek, and continuing our annual tradition of a “pause” week flows from the same ethos.
We invite other newsrooms to consider what it might look like to join us in rest. Just as we were initially inspired by MLK50’s regular self-care breaks and the reasoning behind them, we hope Prism on Pause sparks other outlets to give rest a chance, and trust your journalism will be stronger for it.
Lastly, we’re grateful for the understanding of our readership, whose support makes both our work and our rest possible. If you haven’t already, consider becoming a part of our member community to help power our journalism into the future.
See you upon our return. 💖
Teja Smith talking about Beyond the Ballot virtual event
Hear from Get Social founder Teja Smith 💥 TOMORROW 💥 alongside other community activists, organizers, and movement leaders in a free, virtual event around everyday strategies for collective liberation.
🎟 RSVP at bit.ly/3NbBIjx
What the Future Needs to Look Like
Freedom, Liberation, and Electoral Justice
Civil Unrest and the Fight for Justice: A National Dialogue on Defending Our Collective Democracy
Prism - elevating stories and voices critical to a reflective democracy
Black Women Leading in the South - LaTosha Brown
