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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Program provides housing to the chronically homeless
The chronically homeless — people with disabilities who have been continually homeless for over a year or four times within three years — can receive rent-free housing upfront under a Bush administration program. The effort has been more successful than predicted and has kept 80 percent of chronically homeless Americans off the street for two or more years. A Boise, Idaho, “housing first” program, Charitable Assistance to Community's Homeless (CATCH), reports similar gains by focusing on long-term goals instead of quick fixes.
Original story
Labels: homeless, housing program
Unemployment fraud criminals busted in N.Y.
Law enforcement officials have arrested 126 New York City residents who received $930,000 in fraudulent unemployment claims. Agencies have increased coordination, stepped up enforcement efforts, and are using data-matching to identify New Yorkers who collect benefits while still employed. New York pays more than $2 billion a year in jobless benefits. Investigators uncover some 600 cases of unemployment insurance fraud per year.
Original story
Labels: unemployment fraud
Homeless shelters overflowing in western Idaho
Homeless shelters in the Treasure Valley region of western Idaho have been near-capacity all year, and visitors include an alarming number of women and children. Boise Rescue Mission anticipates serving 280,000 meals this year, up from 178,000 in 2007. Some shelters, such as City Light Home for Women and Children in Boise, are experiencing an overflow with 58 nightly guests and only 38 beds. Higher unemployment has created more demand for shelter, but has decreased donations and funds, forcing shelters to serve the immediate needs of guests rather than help them transition out of homelessness.
Original story
Labels: homeless, homeless shelters, Treasure Valley
Montana health care initiative for children headed for approval
Initiative 155, which extends Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) to children of low-income and moderate-income families, is expected to be approved by Montana voters. The initiative will target an additional 30,000 uninsured children in Montana over the next three years. Under I-155, kids who are on CHIP would be under the care of Medicaid while the money that is spent on CHIP will go toward families earning under $32,560.
Original story
Labels: children's health insurance program, Initiative 155
Hyannis homeless and residents debate local issues
The homeless residents in this Massachusetts community gathered for a debate with Main Street’s business owners and residents over the problems of homelessness. Residents of Hyannis are concerned about the large numbers of homeless people who congregate in their community due to the region’s concentration of homeless services. Hyannis business owners and residents, worried about public safety, want to rid the city of the homeless. The homeless argued for fair and humane treatment.
Original story
Labels: homeless debate, public safety
City’s soliciting ordinance aims to regulate panhandling
This central Massachusetts city is considering a “soliciting ordinance” that would prohibit panhandling within 15 feet of any bank, ATM, pay phone, parking pay box, public toilet or bus stop. Violent or threatening language or behavior and unwanted touching or blocking public passage would also be prohibited. Downtown merchants say panhandlers have discouraged shoppers and made the city appear unsafe and unattractive. The ordinance does not distinguish between panhandlers and representatives of charities asking for money.
Original story
Labels: panhandling, soliciting ordinance
Mobile dental clinic to help underserved in Maryland
More than 14 percent of students in rural Charles County students have urgent dental problems, and Health Partners, a nonprofit organization that provides pediatric dental assistance for needy children, is raising money for a mobile dental clinic. The unit will cost about $40,000. The Knights of Malta, a Roman Catholic order, has donated $25,000, and organizers hope to raise the remaining $15,000 during three dinner theater performances catered by a prominent local restaurant.
Original story
Labels: dental care, maryland, mobile dental clinic
Mobile dental clinic to help underserved in Maryland
More than 14 percent of students in rural Charles County students have urgent dental problems, and Health Partners, a nonprofit organization that provides pediatric dental assistance for needy children, is raising money for a mobile dental clinic. The unit will cost about $40,000. The Knights of Malta, a Roman Catholic order, has donated $25,000, and organizers hope to raise the remaining $15,000 during three dinner theater performances catered by a prominent local restaurant.
Original story
Labels: dental care, maryland, mobile dental clinic
Asian food delivery workers pay for those bargain meals
Many workers in Asian-style restaurants, especially delivery staff, work under brutal conditions. With below minimum-wage salaries and no benefits, employees are finally fighting for their rights through organizations such as the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund. However, consumers have a say in how these workers are treated as well.
Original story
Labels: foreign workers, labor conditions
Economic crisis jeopardizes health care
The economic downturn is impacting Americans on many fronts, as job losses cost workers both their incomes and their health insurance. Hospitals, which already face funding shortfalls, are forced to look for additional sources of support as the burden of treating the uninsured grows heavier.
Original story
Labels: healthcare, hospitals, uninsured
Georgia sex offender law ruled unfair to homeless
Georgia’s Supreme Court has ruled that that a sex offender registration law was unfair to the homeless. The law declared homeless sex offenders guilty if they were unable to register a specific address at the sheriff’s office. The law gave no instruction as to what sex offenders without addresses should do, making registration requirements ambiguous.
Original story
Labels: homeless, sex offenders
Rhode Island jobs seem unlikely to recover before 2013
Rhode Island leads the nation in unemployment, with an 8.8 percent jobless rate as of September, and economists do not expect a full recovery until 2013. The state began the fiscal year in July with a $37 million deficit, and tax collections since then have fallen millions of dollars short of expectations. Rhode Island’s housing market continues to drag down the state economy with a foreclosure rate of 15 percent, the fourth-highest in the country.
Original story
Labels: foreclosure, jobless rate, Rhode Island, unemployment
Overpriced greens costing more green
While the price of oil is declining, the costs of groceries continue to remain inflated. Economists say the price of consumer goods such as groceries tends to lag behind the cost of key inputs like oil and wheat. However, the opposite can be true as well: companies fearful of losing customers to competitors fail to raise prices and suffer losses.
Original story
Labels: consumer goods, groceries, inflation
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