Social Programs
Criminalizing Poverty
Published July 16, 2009 @ 12:00PM PT
Or so it can feel when interacting with case workers to apply for public assistance.
Barbara Ehrenreich has another whopper editorial this past week about the real safety net in the United States: poor Americans and their friends and families, often poor themselves, taking care of one another. I am pretty easily outraged when I read the news, but rarely do I feel weepy after I read something. This op-ed just makes me feel like crying. If you're de facto treated like a criminal in order to apply for cash assistance, would you show up at the welfare office or maybe just turn to your mom, neighbor or best friend? No surprise, then, that welfare reform has effectively stopped 60% of eligible Americans from collecting the temporary cash assistance to which they're entitled.
10 Most Broke-A** States
Published July 11, 2009 @ 03:00PM PT
Only Montana and North Dakota are not suffering budget shortfalls in the Great Recession. The remaining 48 face a combined $166 billion deficit - the fallout?
"High on the chopping block are benefits to the poor, money for education, highway repairs, hours that state offices are open and even closures of state parks and recreation areas."
Y'all know that California is the brokest of broke states and that the poor, disabled and ill are a pawn in Schwarzenegger's game. Who are the remaining 9 brokety-broke states? I hope you don't live in one of them! (Shortfalls are rounded)
- Arizona & Nevada: 40% of their budgets
- Illinois & NYC: one-third of their budgets
- Alaska, NJ & Oregon: 30% of their budgets
- Vermont, Washington & Connecticut: 25% of their budgets
Not that the rest of us should be breathing a sigh of relief - few of us aren't feeling the squeeze right now!
Discrimination & Unequal Benefits Lead to Higher LGBT Poverty
Published July 11, 2009 @ 06:59AM PT
Actually, no surprise here, given our gender inequality in the U.S., this is really an issue of poverty among lesbians and transgendered individuals.
I hope you saw our tremendous announcement this week that Change.org together with gay rights organizations negotiated an agreement with Rockstar energy drinks that affirms the latter's commitment to LGBT equality and contributes $100,000 to LGBT rights organizations. That $100,000 could really go a long way towards fighting the higher rates of poverty among gays, lesbians, bisexual, and transgendered people* resulting from the prohibition of full benefits based on their sexual orientation. After the jump, some critical data and policy prescriptions, and a note on the need for a more inclusive, representative leadership among gay rights advocates.
Food Deserts Benefit From Farmers Markets
Published July 09, 2009 @ 06:00AM PT
Many have come to realize that the problem of food deserts is not that there is no food to eat at all, but rather, that fresh, affordable and healthy food are much harder to come by than the fried chicken and Big Mac's found on nearly every street corner. It is a problem of access and affordability more than anything else.
With the knowledge that Tennessee is one of the most food insecure states (particularly in regard to children) in the entire country, Vanderbilt University graduate student Darcy Freedman decided to conduct research to determine how to address issues of childhood obesity, family nutrition and food security issues in four of Nashville's underserved communities.
What she found was that families do not only need help accessing fresh food, they also need help learning how to eat healthy and understanding why it is so important to their health. And thus, the Veggie Project was born.
Income Gap Highest in 30 Years
Published July 06, 2009 @ 06:34AM PT
The poorest among us have increased their incomes by only $1,600 in 27 years - that's 16 cents per day.
Buried on page 15 of the National section in the NYT yesterday is coverage of a new report from the Center on Budget & Policy Priorities, demonstrating that the poorest among us - mostly jobless households with children - were not benefiting from our safety net programs (e.g., food stamps, etc.).
This is no newsflash; our safety net is designed specifically around temporary hardship. Lost your job and need food stamps or cash subsidies for a bit? No problem! But if you've got any condition that makes holding a job difficult (disability, young children, lack of a good education and a diploma), then you're screwed. Time limits, and emphasis on low-wage work at any cost over educational gains and child care assistance guarantees that we will consistently leave (mostly) single mothers with young children behind. That's how we've chosen to structure the system and it delivers long-term consequences for these households.
When I went looking for the report on the Center's website, though, I found this (I can't discover the NYT-referenced report, I'll keep looking):
On Economic Mobility & Poverty Thresholds
Published July 02, 2009 @ 12:00PM PT
Following up on my earlier post on downward economic mobility and rising economic insecurity, new data, described below, shows just how economically vulnerable the majority of middle-class households are in the U.S. Once again I wonder, will this trigger us to do something about how we measure poverty in the U.S., now that so many of us hover at its door? Knowing our national myths of a bootstrapping, classless society, we'll probably just redefine it down even further to renew the distance between ourselves and our poorer neighbors! After all we've vilified them so much, we certainly don't want to become one of them now!
But we really need to come to grips with how few of us can afford what should be basic rights for all of us: housing, education, and a livable wage and healthy work-life balance. I add that "balance" because the right to work shouldn't be backbreaking, enslaving, or heart-attack inducing - especially since we're working harder and harder for less and less money. As the middle-class disappears, we need to confront the poverty they - we - face in this country.
Workers' Rights Advance at a Glacial Pace
Published June 30, 2009 @ 12:00PM PT
The Wall Street Journal heralds the advancement of family leave policies in Democratic-led states, noting in particular "Colorado and Nevada signed laws within the past month that give employees unpaid leave for school-related events, becoming the first states to do so in a decade."
Forgive me if I'm less than ebullient when I learn that in CO, it's 18 HOURS ANNUALLY unpaid for parents to attend school meetings (e.g., PTA conferences), though Nevada's gone all nutty in its generosity and allowed any school activity (e.g., soccer games). And that only 11 states have expanded on the Family Medical Leave Act from 1993.
Meanwhile, states (Dem and GOP alike!) gear up to fight Obama's plans to expand Medicaid to cover about one-third of the current uninsured. In fairness to them: they're too broke to pay for it. Point to the feds: States won't have to pay for it for awhile.
Welcome to the U.S.A.! Please check your family leave policies, universal healthcare, and workers' rights with the Immigration agent. Thank you for visiting the land of the free, harried and insecure!
(Photo of Worthington Youth Boosters "soccer tots". Looks like that little girl's parents couldn't make it. Photo by geocam20000)
