At-risk kids: Successful New York program a possible solution for Chicago, By Stephanie Banchero, December 27, 2009, Chicago Tribune: “In a Harlem classroom late one afternoon, 20 4-year-olds in ties and plaid skirts sat cross-legged on a carpet, counting to 20 in French. A mile north, doctors and dentists gave eye exams and filled cavities in a health clinic nestled inside a charter school building. And a half-mile to the west in a converted church hall, a 15-year-old girl stared into a camera and recounted the anguish caused by her father’s incarceration, adding to a documentary being made by teenagers. These seemingly disparate events are part of a unique network of services provided by one nonprofit organization that is taking a holistic approach to helping poor children succeed. The Harlem Children’s Zone offers educational, medical and social services from cradle to college in a 97-block area in Upper Manhattan, in hopes of lifting children — and therefore the community — out of academic and economic failure…”

Indigent burials, and cost to public, on rise, By Kevin Duchschere, December 27, 2009, Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune: “It’s a grim but necessary county job that, unlike building roads or jailing bad guys, usually escapes notice: burying the dead when no one else can. In some Minnesota localities, as in many other places around the country, indigent and county-assisted burials have been on the rise in the last couple of years as economic conditions have worsened. State law requires counties to pay basic funeral expenses to bury or cremate those who die alone and destitute, or to provide those services for families who can’t afford a basic coffin and burial for a relative…”

• Midnight in the U.S. food-stamp economy, By Nicole Maestri and Lisa Baertlein, December 18, 2009, Macon Daily: “At 11 p.m. on the last day of the month, shoppers flock to the nearest Walmart. They load their carts with food and household items and wait for the midnight hour. That’s when food stamp credits are loaded on their electronic benefits transfer cards. ‘Once the clock strikes midnight and EBT cards are charged, you can see our results start to tick up,’ says Tom Schoewe, Wal-Mart Stores Inc’s chief financial officer. As food stamps become an increasingly common currency in a struggling U.S. economy, they are dictating changes in how even the biggest retailers do business. From Costco to Wal-Mart, store chains are rethinking years of strategy as they watch prized customers lose jobs and turn to this benefit, the stigma of which is disappearing not just in society, but in corporate America. Besides staffing up for the spike in shoppers on the first day of the month, retailers are adjusting when and what they stock, updating point-of-sale systems to accept food stamps and shifting expansion plans to focus on lower-income shoppers…”
• Food stamp recipients up in Mississippi, By Gary Pettus, December 15, 2009, Jackson Clarion-Ledger: “Charles Penton keeps a log of the jobs he has asked for since moving his family to Mississippi a couple of months ago. The number of turndowns is about 15 or 20 now, said the unemployed security guard. His wife works part time, but he’s still looking. Meanwhile, his family of four, including two school-age children, must eat. ‘So, rather than put a strain on the family as far as having enough food, we applied for food stamps,’ he said. ‘It’s been a godsend.’ Apparently, that is the case for more than 563,000 Mississippians, or one in every five…”
• Food stamps filling void, By Matt Kakley, December 28, 2009, Sun Chronicle: “Both nationally and right here at home, more and more people are turning to food stamps this holiday season to help put dinner on the table as they grapple with the worsening effects of economic recession. Around the area, residents are signing up in droves for the benefit as many continue to struggle finding jobs and face pressure to keep up with mounting mortgage and other bills. Elaine Petrasky of Attleboro Self Help said her organization, which helps area residents sign up for the state-run benefit, has seen a spike in the number of people looking for food assistance in recent months…”

• Need for heat aid in Minnesota higher this year, By Maria Elena Baca, December 21, 2009, Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune: “This winter, Art Swanson is thankful to be part of a group he’d just as soon have avoided. The Anoka County resident represents the newest trend among the more than 125,000 Minnesotans who have applied for federal heating assistance since Oct. 1 (the start of the fiscal year): At 50, he’s a first-time customer. He was laid off in January from his job as a union glazier, installing windows and doors mostly in new commercial buildings, and work this year has been inconsistent at best. Statewide, the number of applicants to the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) is up 8 percent from this time last year, and 19.5 percent from December 2007. Administrators point to a growing number of families dealing with unemployment or underemployment for the first time…”
• Texas agency slow to spend stimulus funds to weatherize homes, By James Drew, December 20, 2009, Dallas Morning News: “The state received millions of federal dollars from the economic-stimulus package to help poor Texans cut their energy bills, but by the end of last month, just seven homes had been weather-treated under the program. The state has spent $1.8 million of $163 million available over the past four months, with most of it going to administrative costs, such as the salaries of state workers. The weatherization program was a key element of the federal effort to revive the economy, billed as a quick way to create jobs, save energy and cut utility bills. In Texas, the task has been heaped onto a midsized agency that must figure how to hand out millions more in federal funds to local agencies and governments, but do it carefully enough to avoid wasting money…”