This blog is a place for journalists to discuss their experiences covering poverty. It works in tandem with onpoverty.org, a site run by Washington and Lee University's American Poverty Journalism Center.
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From the inside out: The Mount Pleasant story
Cleveland, the one-time boomtown, has recently been called the country’s poorest big city, and Mount Pleasant -- known for its crime, poverty and substandard living -- is one of the neighborhoods that help the city earn its label. This week, we feature an award-winning multimedia series from The Cleveland Plain Dealer that looks at what Mount Pleasant, and by extension the city itself, was and what it has become.
Original story
Labels: Bernard's Story, Cleveland, Mount Pleasant, The Cleveland Plain Dealer
Family struggles as Richmond area trailer park closes
The Abt-Barnett family bought two mobile homes in Americana Trailer Park outside Richmond, Virginia, in an attempt to start anew. Days later, the money-strapped family learned the park would be closing at the end of the summer to make way for a new development. Now they, along with over 200 other low-income families, are facing displacement. Trailer parks, historically a staple part of Richmond’s affordable-housing market, are now a dying breed.
Original story
Labels: affordable-housing, Americana Trailer Park, Chesterfield County, Richmond, trailer parks, West Virginia
It just doesn’t pay to be jobless in Florida
The top unemployment benefit in Florida works out to just under $7 an hour, less than what most fast-food workers in the state make. And that’s for anyone who loses a job, whether they had been bringing home six figures or a middle-class paycheck. The state’s weekly maximum benefit of $275 hasn’t budged in 10 years and is making the current economic downtown all the more painful.
Original story
Labels: Florida, unemployment, unemployment benefit
Rhode Island lawmakers may eliminate energy assistance program
In Rhode Island, those living in poverty may not get the help they were expecting. State legislators are debating a spending plan that would eliminate programs intended to reduce high energy costs. The program was intended to help pay for renovations that would make the homes of the needy more energy-efficient. But due to the over $400 million spending shortfall, the state’s poor may never get to benefit from the program, which was passed more than two years ago.
Original story
Labels: budget, energy assistance program, Providence, Rhode Island, spending
Oregon homeless students graduate from high school
Thanks to a Portland organization dedicated to helping the city’s homeless youth, 37 homeless students graduated from high school this year. New Avenues for Youth provides homeless teens with opportunities to get education, job training and counseling. The program also helps them find housing. Seven hundred Portland youth benefit from New Avenues each year.
Original story
Labels: GED, homeless, New Avenues for Youth, Oregon, Portland, youth
Pennsylvania wants nursing homes to do more for the elderly
Pennsylvania welfare authorities want to encourage nursing homes that serve Medicaid patients to introduce more programs for the elderly who wish to maintain an independent lifestyle. To do so, the department needs federal approval for an incentive package that reduces the number of beds in each nursing home. That will enable them to use the extra money to add independent living units, outpatient rehabilitation facilities and other services for senior citizens on Medicaid.
Original story
Labels: Medicaid, nursing homes, Pennsylvania, welfare
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