Survey: Number of poor children up in the Shoals

MONTGOMERY - Key measurements of how well states provide for children in poverty show the Shoals, like most areas of Alabama, has more poor children now than five years ago.

In two of three northwest Alabama counties, however, the percentage of children graduating high school is increasing, which is a positive indicator for future economic growth and higher earnings.MONTGOMERY - Key measurements of how well states provide for children in poverty show the Shoals, like most areas of Alabama, has more poor children now than five years ago.

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Court Decision Endangers Affordable Rental Homes

Last week, a California Appellate court took a giant step toward eliminating affordable rental housing in communities across California. In Palmer/Sixth Street Properties v. City of Los Angeles, the Court ruled that a Los Angeles inclusionary housing law was preempted by the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act. As a result of this decision, inclusionary housing laws across the state are in jeopardy of being tossed out by over-zealous judges.

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Homes not priced to sell to low-income

City Hall often touts how it’s transforming blighted neighborhoods by using taxpayer money to subsidize new developments that include “affordable” homes for families.

But the families who need those homes the most can’t live in them because they’re priced too high, a report to be released today concludes.

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Program provides training for low-income workers

TROY - Federal stimulus money is helping low-income Capital Region workers train for and find new jobs.

The state Labor Department’s Career Pathways initiative has been up and operating since April. Officials say they've placed 16 workers.

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Reach of Subsidies Is Critical Issue for Health Plan

WASHINGTON — The major health care bills moving through Congress would require nearly all Americans to have health insurance. But as lawmakers struggle to achieve the goal of universal coverage, a critical question is whether the plans will be affordable to those who are currently uninsured.

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City offers homeless a one-way ticket out of town

If you're homeless and can't cut it in New York, the city has your one-way ticket outta here - to anywhere in the world - on the house.

The free ride is part of a $500,000-a-year Bloomberg administration program to keep the homeless out of the shelter system, which costs $36,000 a year per family, The New York Times reported.

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Neighborhoods Key to Future Income, Study Finds

Researchers have found that being raised in poor neighborhoods plays a major role in explaining why African American children from middle-income families are far more likely than white children to slip down the income ladder as adults.

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Atlanta close to tearing down last housing project

ATLANTA — The nation's bulldozer attack on crime and poverty will soon make Atlanta — home of the first public housing development — the first major city to eliminate all of its large housing projects.

Cities from Boston to Los Angeles are following its lead. For more than 15 years, housing officials across the country have been razing the projects where some 1.2 million families live and replacing them with a mix of higher-rent and subsidized apartments and homes.

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EPA looks at effects of waste plants on minorities, poor

The Environmental Protection Agency is focusing on the effect of hazardous waste recycling plants on minorities and low-income communities.

The move hearkens back to a Clinton-era executive order that required federal agencies to consider the effect of their policies on disadvantaged communities. Although the Bush administration largely ignored the mandate, Obama-appointed EPA administrator Lisa P. Jackson has promised to analyze those effects.

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New Court Decision Jeopardizes Affordable Rental Housing

Last week, a California Appellate court took a giant step toward eliminating affordable rental housing in communities across California. In Palmer/Sixth Street Properties v. City of Los Angeles, the Court ruled that a Los Angeles inclusionary housing law was preempted by the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act. As a result of this decision, inclusionary housing laws across the state are in jeopardy of being tossed out by over-zealous judges.


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Rent aid cuts to have broad impact

Not only will nearly 500 low-income households in Douglas County lose their public housing assistance, but most other families in the Section 8 program face higher rents as public housing agencies struggle with federal cutbacks.

Furthermore, cost-cutting measures by the Omaha and Douglas County housing authorities may steer more poor people into lower-rent units in older parts of town, creating a higher concentration of poverty.

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Arpaio launching 'crime suppression' sweep in Chandler

Sheriff Joe Arpaio brought his crime-suppression sweeps to Chandler for the first time Thursday, alarming city leaders and activists who say it could undo the goodwill built with the Hispanic community following the notorious 1997 roundup in the city.

The three-day operation, which began Thursday, mobilizes 200 deputies and posse volunteers to focus largely on Chandler and Queen Creek, including the Arizona Avenue corridor that runs through downtown Chandler where day laborers gather. That's the location of the roundup conducted by Chandler police and border-patrol agents more than a decade ago.

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Activists Arrested After Occupying East Harlem Lot

At first glance on Thursday morning, it looked as if a fashion photo shoot was in progress on East 115th Street. Men and women with digital cameras and boom microphones assembled on the north side of the street, between Fifth and Madison Avenues. A green awning was set up on the sidewalk over a table holding bagels, cherries and lime seltzer. A few feet away was a portable metal clothing rack with hangers holding slinky dresses. And there was a model wearing black fishnet stockings, a shiny sequined skirt and three-inch heels as she walked back and forth in front of a large empty, grassy lot.

“Action,” one woman shouted to the model. “Flip your jacket across your shoulder. Now cut.”

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Panel discusses goal to end homelessness in Whatcom County

BELLINGHAM - Those working to end homelessness in Whatcom County hope to cut by half the number of people without a permanent roof over their heads by 2015.

That goal in the local 10-year plan to end homelessness was discussed Wednesday, July 22, at a Bellingham City Club forum on homelessness, its causes and solutions.

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In US, Homelessness Grows as Families Join the Ranks

The number of homeless families is on the rise across the United States.

Over the last year a regional government planning agency says the number of homeless families increased by 15 percent in the D.C. area, the biggest jump in years.

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Millions cut from education initiatives WORSE AHEAD NEXT YEAR? | Preschool, gifted programs hit

State education officials Tuesday slashed millions of dollars from dozens of initiatives -- ranging from preschool to after-school to gifted programs -- and warned of a "catastrophic'' year ahead, when $2 billion in federal stimulus dollars will dry up.

Acting in emergency session, State Board of Education members faced with shrunken state revenues approved a $7.26 billion budget for this coming school year, down $146 million, or 2 percent, from fiscal year 2009.

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Purchase of apartment complex helps Redwood City's homeless outreach efforts

A renewed effort to address homelessness on the streets of Redwood City got a boost last week with the city's purchase of an apartment complex to house homeless and low-income residents.

The city council on July 13 decided to buy a 23-unit building at 1306 Main St. for $2.4 million, mostly with grants from San Mateo County and the federal government.

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Free Internet services at Center on Halsted for LGBT homeless and friends

CHICAGO -- We scouted around the north-side of Chicago to find the best free Internet services for the homeless. No two places are alike it seems -- as their are computers for only women, for the LGBT community, along with old and 2.0 technology. There's something for all. As you try to get your lives in order -- perhaps these services will help you find that perfect job -- email your family and friends -- to let them know you are alright, or just take a moment out of the stress of your day on the streets and watch your favorite news, comedy or TV show on Hulu. This is the first on a series of articles -- on places to go.

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Author: Homelessness ‘can happen to anyone’

Richard LeMieux had a lengthy career as a sports writer for the Springfield News-Sun before moving to Bremerton, Wash., and starting a business publishing medical directories.

But after flourishing for several years, sales dried up. And the Urbana native — who said he was making $300,000 a year and had purchased luxury cars and several boats — went deep into debt and eventually lost everything.

With his family having turned its back on him, LeMieux descended into homelessness. He slept in his van, ate meals at churches and the Salvation Army and even ended up begging for money in grocery store parking lots.

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Growing Need for More Beds at D.C. Homeless Shelters Prompts Hearing

The city's network of homeless shelters has started to overflow, with space especially tight for women and families, who have been turned away by the hundreds and are sleeping on friends' couches, on sidewalks, in cars and in parks, officials and advocates said yesterday.

Advocates said it is troubling to see shelters filled to capacity in midsummer, which raises concern about how the homeless and the District will cope when the weather turns cold. The District's rising unemployment rate, nearing 11 percent, also might worsen the situation

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Agencies help homeless families in Monterey County

Homeless parents have more to worry about than not having a roof over their heads. They also need to find food for their children and money for school supplies.
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"I see dads that cry because they can't provide for their families," said Cheryl Camany, homeless liaison and outreach consultant for the Salinas City Elementary School District. "It breaks my heart."

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Santa Barbara Council OKs Loans for Two Low-Income Housing Projects

The Santa Barbara City Council approved loans for two low-income housing projects at Tuesday’s meeting.

The first, a 56-unit Artisan Court project on East Cota Street, will be developed by the Housing Authority of the City of Santa Barbara. The loan, about $3.2 million, will fund project development and pay off the existing bank loans used to purchase the property.

The complex includes one apartment for a manager and 55 studio apartments designed for three target populations: youth transitioning out of foster care, the chronic homeless and low-income downtown workers.

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Low-income kids hardest hit by Calif. cuts

California is on the verge of transforming how it helps its most vulnerable citizens: the poor, the disabled and the elderly. Their safety net will be severely scaled back, under the budget deal Governor Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders hammered out Monday.

"The legislative leaders said that they saved the safety net. But the actual details suggests that the safety net has been shredded," said Anthony Wright, Health Access.

Low-income children will be among the hardest hit. Welfare-to-Work moms who keep failing to fulfill job requirements, for instance, used to be able to get cash assistance for just their kids. But with the proposed cut to CalWORKs slated to be over half-a-billion dollars, the state would completely cut off the family.

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Minimum Wage Increase Will Help Millions of Low-Income Workers

This Friday, the federal minimum wage will increase from $6.55 an hour to $7.25 an hour. The change is the last of three increases over the past two years as mandated by the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007.

The increase comes at a time a time when many Americans need it the most. More than 2.8 million workers will receive a pay increase due to the new minimum wage.
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Making Government Work for Families

Today an increasing amount of the government’s work is not performed directly by the federal workforce, but rather by a hidden workforce of employees working for government contractors. From 2000 to 2008, the federal government more than doubled its investment in contracted goods and services to $526 billion. This investment represents over 3 percent of the total size of the U.S. economy, approximately equal to the economic output of the state of New Jersey.

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Opa-locka organization helps low-income home buyers

On a sweltering hot morning, Tina Coats and her 2-year-old daughter Shania Mears fan themselves under a tent in front of a home in Opa-locka, one that Coats hopes will be hers soon.

''I want a better life for me and my children,'' the mother of two said.

About 25 community supporters and dignitaries were on hand to kick off Opa-locka Community Development Corporation's Neighborhood Stabilization Program of South Florida.

''At some point someone will be handed the key to this house and to their future,'' said president of AT&T Florida, Marshall Criser.

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On a mission for low-income youths

It was a startling wake-up call for a high school sophomore whose attention had drifted from history class. He looked out a window and saw the face of the principal – his middle school principal.

Jonathan Arteaga recognized that stare – “like into your soul” – and thought he was in trouble. Principal Brendan Sullivan had directed it at him plenty of times at Nativity Prep Academy, a tiny Catholic middle school in San Diego's Stockton neighborhood.

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SF: YOUTH RALLY AGAINST CUTS TO STATE'S LOW-INCOME INSURANCE PROGRAM

A group of San Francisco youth rallied in front of City Hall today, protesting proposed cuts to a state program providing health insurance to low-income teens and children.

Facing a $90 million general fund budget shortfall in the next fiscal year, and with the governor and Legislature proposing further reductions, the Healthy Families Program began a waiting list today for new enrollments. The program offers low-cost health, dental and vision insurance for those who do not qualify for Medi-Cal.

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Getting Rid of Summer Vacation?

One of those was Conor Clarke’s essay last month on the Web site of The Atlantic, titled “Why We Should Get Rid of Summer Vacation.” He was not talking about mine, but rather my children’s — and the fact that three months off every year is a schedule that makes less sense in a modern world than in the agrarian (and unairconditioned) one in which it was first created.

His arguments, he notes, are familiar ones. They come up every year at this time: Students — particularly those at most educational risk — backslide during the summer. Parents need to spend and scramble to find child care. Wealthier families can afford safe, stimulating ways for children to spend the empty days, but lower income families often can not. And the yearly pause means American students lag behind much of the Western world in the number of days they spend in school.

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Struggling Landlords Leaving Repairs Undone

As property owners run into trouble paying their mortgages, neighborhoods around New York City have been witnessing a disturbing consequence: Small and large apartment buildings are being abandoned in a state of disrepair, leaving tenants in limbo without basic services or even landlords.

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Gates Grants Aim to Help Low-Income Students Finish College

With concerns growing that the recession will make it even harder for low-income students to remain in college, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation on Monday announced nearly $70 million in grants as part of an ambitious initiative: to double the number of low-income students who earn a college degree or vocational credential by age 26.

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Enrollment freeze for state's low-income child care program, Healthy Families

Beginning today, California's health care program for low-income children will freeze enrollment for the first time in its 10-year history because of the state's ongoing budget crisis.

Healthy Families needs $90 million from the state to cover an estimated 1 million children whose parents earn too much to qualify for Medi-Cal and too little to afford insurance, according to California's Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board, which operates the program. That gap adds up to $270 million because the federal government kicks in $2 for every $1 the state spends on the program.

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Los Altos Hills stresses granny units as a way to meet affordable housing requirements

In a town without apartment complexes, condominiums or even duplexes, affordable housing may seem unlikely.

But all cities must meet state requirements to provide their "fair share" of homes for low-income residents, and Los Altos Hills is pushing to meet its by encouraging homeowners to build "granny units." At a meeting on the town's housing element next Thursday, the city council will discuss a plan that aims to make granny units 20 percent of all newly constructed housing.

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Homeless Families Flock to Campgrounds

Troy Renault remembers the shocking statistic he heard earlier this year while watching the news. By the end of 2009, more than a million children will be homeless because of the recession, foreclosure crisis and skyrocketing unemployment rate.

"I was like how could that happen? In this country, how can that happen," Renault pondered that fact while sitting at a picnic table on a hot Tennessee afternoon. "And little did I think that my children would be part of the statistic."

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Part-Time Workers Mask Unemployment Woes

In California and a handful of other states, one out of every five people who would like to be working full time is not now doing so.

It is a startling sign of the pain that the Great Recession is inflicting, and it is largely missed by the official, oft-repeated statistics on unemployment. The national unemployment rate has risen to 9.5 percent, the highest level in more than a quarter-century. Yet it still excludes all those who have given up looking for a job and those part-time workers who want to be working full time.

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Family Businesses Are Reeling in Recession

MIAMI — Using only strips of canvas and a little rope, Scott Peterson walked up a 50-foot flagpole here to remove a star-spangled banner with reds faded pink. His ancestors used the same method: the family business, originally Harold A. Peterson Steeplejack, opened in 1926.

And it will probably close in 2009. The Great Recession, especially its stranglehold on credit and new construction, appears to have mortally wounded what the Depression could not kill.

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Number of Homeless Families on the Rise

Last week, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development released its "Annual Homeless Assessment Report." According to the report, the number of homeless families in the U.S. is on the rise.

Officials say the average homeless person in the United States is nine years old. According to school district officials, In Washoe County, the rate of homeless children is up forty percent since 2007.

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Struggling Families Have Back to School Help

Struggling families can find some help at the Salvation Army to afford a small luxury for their kids this fall, through the Steppin' Back to School Program.

Beginning Monday, the Salvation Army is working to help families send their kids back to school in style, complete with a new pair of shoes, pants, and shirt.

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Lean on Me: Informal Safety Nets in Hard Times

Robert Frost put it this way: “Home is the place where, when you have to go there,/They have to take you in.” In this day and age, it’s not exactly clear who “They” are. We don’t know enough about the size or resilience of the informal support networks that help people cope with economic misfortune.

Long-term unemployment is at a record high, and foreclosures that often lead to eviction of either owners or renters are increasing the ranks of the homeless. Fewer than half the unemployed receive state unemployment compensation, and the largest cash assistance program for low-income parents, the earned-income tax credit (E.I.T.C.), provides benefits that are conditional on having earned income.

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New law limits amount utilities can charge low-income customers

Gov. Pat Quinn on Friday signed into law a bill to limit how much utilities can charge low-income customers and to create a program to let them pay bills over time and avoid disconnection.

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New federal grant helps low- and middle-income residents purchase foreclosed homes

Medford resident Tom Ellis had mixed feelings of joy and dread when his $192,000 offer on a foreclosed house in the Abraham Lincoln Elementary attendance zone in east Medford was accepted by the owner bank.

"I was happy I found a suitable house in the right neighborhood, but what do I do now?" Ellis says. "I need money to fix it up."

Soon after that, Ellis found a newspaper article about the new federal Neighborhood Stabilization Stimulus Program in the break room at his workplace.

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Alabama getting $20 million to help homeless

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) - Alabama is receiving $20 million in federal funding to prevent homelessness and to get the homeless out of shelters and into permanent housing.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development says the state government is receiving $13.3 million. Birmingham is getting $2.7 million, Jefferson County $845,000, Mobile $1.2 million, Mobile County $586,571, Montgomery $860,653, and Huntsville $529,697.

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Homeless Families Increasing, U.S. Finds

WASHINGTON — Several years of progress in reducing the number of chronically homeless people ended last year, a study released Thursday by the Department of chronically homeless people ended last year, a study released Thursday by the Department of Housing and Urban Development shows.

While the numbers of individual homeless people remained relatively flat, the number of people in families that were homeless rose by 9 percent from Oct. 1, 2007, to Sept. 30, 2008, the report found.

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Feds push for use of transportation stimulus in poor areas

The Barack Obama administration is pressing states to spend more of their transportation stimulus money in poor and distressed areas.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood wrote to state governors Thursday encouraging them to allocate money they are getting from the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to “economically distressed areas.”

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Low-Wage Schedules and the Child Care Struggle

ore than 60 percent of Americans have jobs that pay by the hour. One-quarter to one-third of them are low-wage jobs like waiting tables, working at nursing homes and standing behind the counter at the Rite-Aid. These employees often face unpredictable hours and less-than-full-time paychecks. And if these employees also happen to be parents, the instability and inflexibility of their work life is likely having negative effects on the health and education of their kids.

Yesterday, at a New America event titled "Flexible Work Arrangements and Low-Wage Work," several researchers laid these facts on the table. It was another reminder of the interdependence of policies related to health, education, the economy and the American workforce. And it highlighted why working families often struggle to find appropriate child care, to care for sick children or to find ways to participate in their children's education.

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LIHI makes people rethink definition of low-income housing

This year, Secou Diate purchased his first home, a brand new four-bedroom townhouse that his wife, daughter, and unborn baby will enjoy. For Diate, it was the perfect time to purchase. Interest rates were low. The unit was in a brand-new development and it was in his price range.

It wasn’t due to any special offers or a loop hole in the system that allowed Diate to purchase his home, but a federal program that many people, especially immigrants, aren’t aware of. It’s called affordable housing, also known as low-income housing or government-subsidized housing.

Affordable housing allows the average person to purchase a home without making major compromises based on their income.

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New cash stimulates low-income preschool in Washington

WASHINGTON -- An old proverb says it takes a village to raise a child, that the school, family and community must build the foundation of a child’s education.

Head Start and Early Head Start use that approach to prepare low-income children for school, helping toddlers and their parents.

The programs are expecting $2.1 billion in stimulus cash to be released to local agencies soon. Experts say it will help add nearly 14,000 children to the program nationwide.

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N.J. offering free meals to kids from low-income families throughout summer

NEW BRUNSWICK -- Eleven-year-old camper Bryan polished off his baked chicken, vegetables and corn bread and eagerly headed back for seconds.

For Bryan, and more than 40 other children from predominantly low-income families at the Salvation Army in New Brunswick, it was their second free meal of the day -- breakfast was pancakes -- courtesy of the Community FoodBank of New Jersey and the federal government.

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Homelessness in suburbs, rural areas increases

As the recession took hold last year, homelessness shifted toward rural and suburban areas and gripped a growing number of families, the U.S. government reports today.

The number of homeless people receiving shelter, 1.6 million, was largely unchanged from 2007, but the number of those in families rose 9% from about 473,000 to 517,000, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development report. The figures are for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30.

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Immigration laws are breaking families apart, deporting too many parents with US-born children h

Roxroy Salmon, a Brooklyn father of five and community leader, is fighting deportation. His is not the first case and, unfortunately, it won't be the last.

A recent study by the Homeland Security Department conducted at the request of Rep. José Serrano (D-Bronx) showed a terrible reality: From 1998 to 2007, immigration authorities deported at least 108,434 parents of U.S.-citizen children.

Salmon, though, is not alone in his struggle to remain with his U.S. citizen wife and children.

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Boost in Food-Stamp Funding Percolates Through Economy

DAVENPORT, Iowa -- The lush red strawberries caught the attention of Rachel Patrick, a mother of five shopping at a farmers market along the Mississippi River here. She selected two cartons and ignited a little-noticed chain reaction that is an important part of President Barack Obama's economic stimulus plan.

Ms. Patrick handed a plastic card loaded with her monthly food-stamp allocation to farmer Ed Kraklio Jr., who swiped it through his electronic reader. Mr. Kraklio now regularly takes in several hundred dollars a month from food-stamp sales, a vital new revenue stream that has allowed him to hire another assistant to help tend a cornucopia of fruits and vegetables. The new worker, in turn, spends her income in nearby stores, restaurants and gas stations.

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Jobless Feel Effects of States' Stimulus Rejection

Latunga Childers lost her $8-an-hour job as a McDonald's manager in April. Soon after, she opened an envelope from Alabama unemployment officials expecting to find a check.

Instead, there was a letter declaring her ineligible for benefits. Behind that letter was a complicated fight over the federal stimulus and the strings that come with it.

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SRP and Stimulus Help Low-Income Customers

Studies indicate that low-income families and individuals typically spend a higher percentage of their annual income for energy to heat, cool and run appliances in their homes. The Weatherization Assistance Program was established to help those families decrease their home energy costs by among other things, sealing leaky AC ducts, adding insulation and weather stripping, providing low-flow showerheads or even replacing aging air conditioners.

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Fresno homeless camp gets 1-week reprieve

The deadline for homeless people to leave downtown encampments along H Street has been pushed back a week, Fresno city officials said Tuesday.

The original Thursday deadline set by Mayor Ashley Swearengin has been moved to July 16, said Greg Barfield, the city's homeless prevention and policy manager.

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Summer Brings a Wave of Homeless Families

As the school year sailed to a close last month, Arielle Figueras crossed the stage in her cap and gown and proudly accepted her fifth-grade diploma.

The next day, she was homeless.

Arielle, a petite 11-year-old, and her parents, brother and sister packed their belongings and arrived at the intake center for homeless families in the South Bronx. Though they had been fighting with their landlord for months and their gas and electricity had long been shut off, they refused to leave their apartment while school was in session.

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Family Man

The principal casualties of this recession are not middle-aged, out-of-work professionals, but young men like Bobby, more of whom are unemployed than at any time in almost two decades. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 15 percent of men ages 20 to 24 were out of work in the first quarter of this year, compared with 7.4 percent for men age 25 and older. The numbers are even higher for those who, like Bobby, lack a high school diploma or college education. Many are trying to find jobs in construction and other trades that have been hit hard by the recession. They do not tend to carry the union cards that guarantee higher wages, and they don't believe in accepting welfare. Hard work, to them, is as honorable as higher education. But the economy has betrayed them, and many have no savings to draw from, no well-off parents to turn to for financial help.



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Program's scholarships help poor working women do well at jobs

Knowing that her 6-year-old daughter, LaSai, is being cared for in a safe, nurturing day care program helps Shynelle Reese concentrate on doing well at work.
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A medical records clerk at St. John Macomb hospital in Warren, Reese is the recipient of a 12-month child-care scholarship thanks to the Women's Caring Program. Reese was one of 100 Michigan women who were helped with one of the most vexing problems working mothers face -- finding quality child care.

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Recession Takes Toll On Young, Low-Income Families

Financial and emotional stability can be an elusive fantasy for young, low-income families. Writer Laura Sessions Stepp, who wrote about "fragile families" in this week's Washington Post Magazine , discusses how unemployment and financial troubles can shatter even the most loving young families. And sociology professor Maria Kefalas explains how family stability has become a class privilege in America.

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In Prisoners’ Wake, a Tide of Troubled Kids

WASHINGTON — Herbert Rashad Scott, whose parents were in and out of prison throughout his childhood, vowed to break his family’s cycle of self-destruction.

The circumstances were not promising. Mr. Scott, 20, was awaiting sentencing for drug possession and robbery, but he was allowed supervised release from jail in May to attend a job preparation class — a chance to turn his life around. As he spoke, he wriggled his neck, trying to get used to the necktie required, and he tried to ignore the tracking device on his ankle.

Safety Net Is Fraying for the Very Poor

Government “safety net” programs like Social Security and food stamps have pulled growing numbers of Americans out of poverty since the mid-1990s. But even before the current recession, these programs were providing less help to the most desperately poor, mainly nonworking families with children, according to a new study by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a private group in Washington.

When Banks Become an Obstacle to Lending

Sandra Hines tells the story of her painful foreclosure in the Applied Research Center’s Race and Recession Report. “They busted up my mother’s antique furniture, our belongings that we had accumulated for 40 years. We lost the home our parents bought,” she said. “Now we’ve lost all of it.” Soon after the family moved into a rental, their landlord’s foreclosure forced them out of yet another home. Sadly, the Hines family is only one of many that are suffering from the result of years of predatory lending. Together with the recession, the negative impact on communities of color is spiraling out of control.

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Changes urged to state criminal records law

Legislators, government officials, and community organizers called today for changes to the state's criminal records law that they said would help ex-offenders reenter society, including shortening the waiting period to seal records and a simplification of the sealing process.

Supporters of the changes to the Criminal Offender Record Information law, speaking at a State House rally, argued that revisions to the law would help people released from prison to find jobs and housing, reducing recidivism.

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New affordable housing opens for seniors

Frances Pacheco is coming home to a place that she can afford on her fixed income.

The 69-year-old retiree is one of the first tenants to move into Legacy Senior Residences at 1005 N. Elma, Casper’s newest affordable senior residence.

Pacheco retired in Las Vegas from jobs “doing all the hard work,” like cleaning houses and working in laundries. She wanted to return to Casper to be with an extended family that includes eight brothers, eight sisters and grandchildren, great and great-great grandchildren.

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Web Site Launched To Help Low-Income Families

South Dakotans who need help with food or paying their bills usually stop into their local health and human services office to see if they qualify for assistance. Although it can be embarrassing for many, a new Web site is helping those get the information they need without waiting in line.

It's probably a sign of the times we're in, but more South Dakota children live in low income households than ever before.


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ACES Bill Will Help Create Jobs for Low Income Families

The American Clean Energy and Security Act will help spur $150 billion in clean energy investments, which will create 1.7 million good-paying jobs throughout the United States.

Clean energy jobs are labor intensive, and clean energy investments create more jobs across all skill and education levels than comparable investments in fossil-fuel energy sources.

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Big jump found in Indianapolis family homelessness

NDIANAPOLIS -

The number of homeless families in the state’s most-populous county grew by 78 percent this year, an official count shows, but the actual number is several times higher, an advocacy group said Wednesday.

The Coalition for Homelessness Intervention and Prevention said a federally required homeless count on Jan. 29 turned up 1,454 people, including 213 families, living in emergency shelters, transitional housing or on the street in Indianapolis.

The total was down 5 percent from 1,524 counted in January 2008 and 22 percent from the 1,868 in 2007. The count tallied 120 homeless families in 2008.

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