Texas stalling on extended pay for jobless, critics say, By Robert T. Garrett, July 17, 2009, Dallas Morning News: “Critics say the Texas Workforce Commission has overstated the role that federal requirements played in delaying 13 more weeks of unemployment benefits for Texans who have been out of work more than a year. Andrew Stettner of the National Employment Law Project, an advocacy group for low-wage workers, said a requirement that the jobless document their work searches is a quarter-century old and has been partially waived by the Obama administration…”
Daily Archives: July 17, 2009
Privatization Proposal for Public Assistance – California
Schwarzenegger proposes private, centralized system for public assistance eligibility, By Michael Rothfield, July 16, 2009, Los Angeles Times: A proposal that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has been pushing in closed-door budget talks would tie the state, with little oversight or review, into a multibillion-dollar computer system likely to be run by the private sector to enroll low-income Californians in welfare, food stamp and healthcare programs. A draft of the plan obtained by The Times shows that Schwarzenegger would replace existing county-run processes, which use four different computer systems across the state, with a single one. Administration officials say the new Internet-based system would allow them to save money on overhead and spend more on recipients…”
Homeless Children – Florida
Number of babies in homeless shelters increasing, By Mike Clary, July 13, 2009, South Florida Sun-Sentinel: “At 5 weeks old, with a crown of dark hair and big blue eyes, Anastasia Garcia is one of the newest faces of the economic crisis. She was born homeless. ‘When we are lucky enough to be settled, we will tell her that things were not always as easy as you may think,’ said Angela Garcia, 26, laying the infant down in a crib crammed into the corner of a small room at the Broward Outreach Center in Pompano Beach she shares with her husband David Henson and their two older daughters, ages 2 and 6…”
Child Poverty – Germany
German children blighted by poverty, By Steve Rosenberg, July 16, 2009, BBC News: “Twelve-year-old Jasmin Thiel and her twin brother Florian do not look poor. They have a DVD player and a colour TV. Jasmin is clutching a mobile phone. But they are among the millions in Germany caught in a growing pool of poverty. Much of what this Berlin family owns, from their furniture to their clothes, has been handed out by local charities…”
State Budget Cuts and Program Cuts – Ohio, California
- State cuts could impact child-care subsidies, By Tiffany Aumann, July 11, 2009, Newark Advocate: “On Friday, parents and employees at Montessori Community School donned badges that read “I’m at work today because I have child care” and posed for photographs as part of a last-minute campaign to tell Ohio legislators they fear for the future of child-care access and quality under 2009-10 state budget proposals. Child-care advocates think budget cuts being considered could deeply hurt low-income families that receive subsidies, as well as the caregivers who watch the children each day…”
- Enrollment freeze for state’s low-income child care program, Healthy Families, By Lora Hines, July 16, 2009, Press-Enterprise: “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…”
- California’s needy may bear brunt of budget crisis, By Steve Gorman, July 15, 2009, US Daily: An ill-timed pregnancy and domestic abuse left Amanda Garcia facing a dire future last year at the prime of life, until California’s welfare-to-work program enabled her return to college after her baby was born. Now the state’s budget crisis is clouding her second chance for a college degree and a professional career. Garcia, 19, who aspires to become a police officer and a lawyer, just learned this month that her childcare assistance may be stopped…”