“Working Poor” report: Nearly 30 percent of US families subsist on poverty wages.

A report released in October 2008 by the Working Poor Families Project reveals that more than 28 percent of American families with one or both parents employed are living in poverty.

The report, "Still Working Hard, Still Falling Short," is based on data for the period from 2004 through 2006 gathered from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the US Census Bureau's American Community Survey and the Census Bureau's Current Population Survey.

The report finds that 9.6 million households can be described as low-income or "working poor"—defined as families that earn less than 200 percent of the official poverty level. There were 350,000 more such families in 2006 than in 2002. More than 21 million children now live in low-income working families—an increase of 800,000 in four years.

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Horizons program helps bridge educational gap for low income Roslindale kids

Using a "phonics flipper," Patricia Hicks turns over a series of cards that show different animals and objects to her young students, who are just learning to read and write. When a dog's head appears, the 11 kids say "da-da-da," sounding out the first letter of "dog."

"Put your hand in front of your face - do you feel the air?" Hicks asks the students, the first to take part in the summer enrichment program Horizons at Dedham Country Day School.

Sixteen children about to enter first grade are in the program - nine from Dedham, and seven from Roslindale and Hyde Park. Horizons aims to counter the summertime loss of academic skills that is most pronounced among students from low-income families.

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Over 30 Percent of Hispanics Lack Health Insurance

With the nation watching, Washington, D.C., has become consumed with its health — for better or worse, and especially bad for those who can’t afford it.

Meanwhile, 45 million people remain uninsured, with the majority being people of color.

According to the Centers for Disease Control 30.4 percent of Hispanics and 17 percent of blacks are uninsured.

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City Plans to Increase Beds For Families During Winter

D.C. officials unveiled a plan Thursday to expand the number of beds available to the homeless in winter by 10 percent to ward off cases of hypothermia.

But activists feared that the increase won't be enough as District residents continue to lose jobs and families are thrown out of their homes in a troubled economy. Space is tight in the city's network of shelters in summer, when demand is typically low. The need for shelter usually spikes in winter.

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Obama aims to overhaul immigration jail system

Pledging more oversight and accountability, the Obama administration announced plans Thursday to transform the nation's immigration detention system from one reliant on a scattered network of local jails and private prisons to a centralized one designed specifically for civil detainees.

The reforms are aimed at establishing greater control over a system that houses about 33,000 detainees a day and that has been sharply criticized as having unsafe and inhumane conditions and as lacking the medical care that may have prevented many of the 90 deaths that have occurred since 2003.

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U.S. to Reform Policy on Detention for Immigrants

The Obama administration intends to announce an ambitious plan on Thursday to overhaul the much-criticized way the nation detains immigration violators, trying to transform it from a patchwork of jail and prison cells to what its new chief called a “truly civil detention system.”

Details are sketchy, and even the first steps will take months or years to complete. They include reviewing the federal government’s contracts with more than 350 local jails and private prisons, with an eye toward consolidating many detainees in places more suitable for noncriminals facing deportation — some possibly in centers built and run by the government.

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Low-income Atlantans go green

About 380 low-income Atlantans have received energy-efficient lightbulbs and others were given low-flow water kits as part of a new “green” city initiative, officials announced Wednesday.

Officials estimate the new initiative will save the residents and the city a combined $4 million on their water and energy bills over the lifespan of the devices.

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Number of Homeless Families on the Rise

CBS) There are signs the economy is turning around, but not fast enough for the many Americans left homeless by the recession and the foreclosure crisis.

The government says that the number of homeless nationwide is holding steady at more than 1.5 million. But that number now includes more people who are part of homeless families - 44,000 more.

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