Inequality is poisoning the American dream. As economic inequality grows, expanding geographic areas of this country lose hope. Hopelessness destroys democracy and poisons faith in the judicial system.

Right now, faith in the American judicial system is paper thin: Trayvon Martin, Florida; Eric Garner, New York; John Crawford, Ohio; Tamir Rice, Cleveland; Freddy Gray, Baltimore. Then we have Chicago paying $5.5 million to victims of police torture and abuse that went on for decades.

These are just some of the cases that came to light over recent years, leading reasonable people to conclude this problem is undoubtedly much more widespread than previously acknowledged.

A friend and retired college professor recently commented that even if jobs remained unavailable, getting a college degree at least expands a person’s understanding of the world.

Here’s why I disagree. Getting a job that pays a living wage (above minimum wage) should be a guarantee, a foundational, inalienable right of all Americans. Based on the assurance of a job, people can decide whether to enter college or trade school and a union apprenticeship, work in the service sector or pursue entrepreneurship.

Historian and philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville wrote that it was not grinding poverty that lead to the French Revolution but understanding the disparate contrast between lives of the aristocracy and peasants. Education without access to jobs paying a living wage breeds hopelessness and anger.

The paternalistic model of plutocracy doles out access to college, housing assistance and medical care. While these programs may be necessary and helpful for the interim, the No. 1 priority has to be universal access to jobs.

One of the sacrosanct routes to access good jobs has been the GED for people who dropped out of high school. Now, even the GED seems to be undermined. Thankfully, some people don’t get discouraged, they get to work. That’s what GED teacher and advocate Hedy Elliott Gardner and State Rep. Jehan Gordon-Booth have done, teaming up to investigate changes and remove roadblocks to the GED. Clare Howard

Shift Food Stamp benefits from corporations to people

Right now, most federal food stamp money is spent at major corporate chain stores, and most of it goes to highly processed foods that don’t belong in a healthy diet. Federal spending for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program/SNAP (formerly called Food Stamps) is $76 billion a year. There’s no transparency, no way to verify which corporate chains get the most food stamp dollars. However, there is a way to alter this spending pattern to benefit recipients of food stamps, the local economy and sustainable farmers.

Every month, residents in the Tri-County Area receive about $6 million in SNAP money for food assistance. A graduate student at Illinois State University calculated that only about 20 cents of each of those dollars stays local when the money is spent at a corporate chain store with headquarters out-of-state. However, when the money is spent at a farmer’s market, the economic impact multiplies and is about $1.35.

Those figures don’t even reflect the health benefits of local produce and the health damage caused by corporate processed food.

Four years ago, I proposed an idea to Mark Roberts, CEO of the Community Foundation of Central Illinois. Mark helped form the Wholesome Food Fund that operates as a pass-through fund at Community Foundation of Central Illinois. The Wholesome Food Fund doubles the amount of money available to a food stamp recipient if their SNAP money is spent at a farmers market. Right now, the fund doubles spending at Peoria Riverfront Market. Starting this fall, the program will also operate at the weekly farmers market at the Methodist Atrium Building.

If a person spends $25 in food stamps at the market, the fund matches that and gives an additional $25 to spend on local produce.

Donations to the Wholesome Food Fund are tax deductible. Over the past three years, the fund received $23,628 in local contributions, capturing matching SNAP dollars (and some additional SNAP spending) for a total of $46,370 in new revenue for Peoria Riverfront Market. Mark Zandi of Moody’s Economy calculates each dollar spent at a farmers market has an economic impact of $1.73. By that calculation, the Wholesome Food Fund has brought $80,220 in economic stimulus to the Peoria area.

Donations are needed to continue the program through 2015. Contributions can be sent to Wholesome Food Fund, Community Foundation of Central Illinois, 331 Fulton St., #310, Peoria, IL 61602. Clare Howard