03.29.08
Food stamp use is hitting an all-time high in several states as inflation forces food prices to rise. Milk now costs around $4 a gallon, while bread has risen to $2-$3 a loaf, but the amount received by families does not increase once they begin receiving aid. The increased use of food stamps is a bad sign, economists say, because it’s considered a leading economic indicator.

Labels: featured, food stamps, inflation

 

03.03.08
FROM PROF. WASSERMAN:
Welcome to OnPoverty.org, the online meeting place for journalists who cover issues of poverty and class in the United States.

As you can see, it’s a news-driven web site, which finds and links to print, broadcast and online coverage that journalists in the field need to know about.

But it’s meant to be more than that.

We want to create a place where professionals can talk with one another about covering poverty — the obstacles and opportunities.

And by doing that, we want to help kick-start a movement toward professionalizing poverty journalism, conferring on coverage of the poor the recognition it deserves as a specialized journalism demanding customized expertise and skill.

OnPoverty.org is committed to:

- keeping practitioners up to date about developments they need to know about to do their work

- highlighting promising ways to cover the disadvantaged and illuminate the realities of deprivation and poverty

- enabling journalists to talk to each other about the work they’re doing and the work they think ought to be done

- linking to resources that can keep journalists abreast of discoveries and insights that can be harvested and turned into engaging, vital journalism

OnPoverty.org is the child of a team of students at Washington and Lee University, the 259-year-old Virginia institution that created the nation’s first journalism education program in 1870. The idea for the site arose from a course I teach on the Journalism of Poverty, which features distinguished coverage of the poor in Britain and the United States over the past century and a half.

One of the concerns raised in the course was whether that powerful tradition of principled advocacy and compassion is being upheld by journalists today, or whether our market-savvy news business systematically ignores the plight of the poor in favor of topics likelier to appeal to more desirable demographics.

Our response has been to recognize poverty coverage as a challenge to journalism’s imagination and professionalism. OnPoverty.org is an attempt to use Internet technology to inform, prod, extol, deplore and, we hope, mobilize.

We hope you’ll tell us what you think of what we’re doing and how you think we can do it better. We urge you to post your comments in response to content we present here, to keep the conversation on the site vital and timely.

And tell your friends.
 

Kevin Gilbert/Herald-Mail W.Va.

03.26.08/The Herald-Mail
Workers at a West Virginia mail-sorting plant were laid off two weeks ago with no warning and no paychecks. Now, the state's labor department is working to find company officials and provide the plant's employees with unemployment checks and job training. Officials are telling former employees "not to be too shy or too proud" to ask for help.

Original story

Labels: layoffs, unemployment, West Virginia

 

03.17.08/CBS News 2 Boise, Idaho
Inflation in food and gasoline prices affects everyone, but people on food stamps may have it tougher than ever. Prices have risen 4 percent, but food stamp allocations do not increase to match inflation.

Original story

Labels: food stamps, inflation

 

03.26.08/Fosters.com

New Hampshire launched a "snap shot" survey to find homeless people. Included in the study are not only people in shelters, but also those sleeping on friends' couches, or places "not meant for human habitation."

Original story

Labels: homeless

 

03.29.08
As journalists, we talk a big game about being a voice for the voiceless.

But in the daily grind of turning out a paper or broadcast or Web site, and in a climate where corporate ownership of news outlets has everyone grasping for the most profitable demographics, the voiceless are often sidelined as an afterthought. Presumably the middle age, middle income, middle educated readers only want to read stories about themselves, so we do stories about them.

What about those who don't have the income and education to speak for themselves? Our mission as journalists is to tell stories about the world around us, but what about the world most of our readers don't see every day?

It's not easy for most people to step outside the bounds of what they know. But it's vitally important to what we do.

Covering poverty is a way to show readers a different perspective on the consequences of their actions, or the actions of elected officials. It's a way to tell the full story of who we are as Americans and where we're going as a nation.

This site aspires to work as a forum for journalists covering poverty. We hope to bring together journalists who can inform and inspire one another to give a fair and accurate account of the "other" side of America.

Labels: about, covering poverty, mission, purpose

 

03.26.08/Louisville Courier-Journal
Kentucky is creating an office to deal with the disproportionate number of blacks in the state's child welfare system. Blacks make up only 7 percent of Kentucky's population, but 19 percent of children in the system.

Original story

Labels: child welfare, race

 

Lloyd Wolf/lloydwolf.com

03.25.08/The Norfolk Examiner
Washington Mayor Adrian Fenty promised to fix the city’s child welfare system after the decomposing bodies of four girls were discovered in Southeast DC. Complaints had been filed that the girls’ mother, but welfare officials failed to act. The city has said it would resolve all complaints within 30 days, but hasn’t met that deadline yet. NOTE ABOUT THE PHOTO: This was taken as part of a project by
photographer Lloyd Wolf, who documented homemade memorials on the
streets of Southeast D.C. His work can be found here and here. It is also
featured in a slide show on Washington Post.

Original story

Labels: child welfare, complaints, homeless