Medicaid bonuses to reward states for insuring more children, By Kevin Sack, December 27, 2010, Washington Post: “The Obama administration plans to announce Monday that it will make $206 million in bonus Medicaid payments to 15 states - with more than a fourth of the total going to Alabama - for signing up children who are eligible for public health insurance but had previously failed to enroll. The payments, which were established when Congress and President Obama reauthorized the Children’s Health Insurance Program in 2009, are aimed at one of the most persistent frustrations in government health care: the inability to enroll an estimated 4.7 million children who would be eligible for subsidized coverage if their families could be found and alerted. Two of every three uninsured children are thought to meet the income criteria for government insurance programs…”

Poverty highest in rural America, rising in recession, By Bill Bishop, December 27, 2010, Daily Yonder: “Nearly one in six people living in rural America fell below the poverty line in 2009, according to data released by the U.S. Census Bureau. And poverty rates in rural counties continue to be higher than in rural and urban communities. In 2009, the poverty rate in rural America was 17.26%, according to the Yonder’s analysis of Census Bureau data. The rate in exurban counties was 13.3%; and in urban counties, the rate was 13.9%. The national poverty rate in 2009 was 14.4%. Rural, urban and exurban poverty rates were higher in 2009 than before the recession began in late 2007. The 2009 rates for urban, rural and exurban counties were all about one percentage point higher than the rates in 2006. There were 8.3 million people living below the poverty line in rural counties in 2009, half a million more than in 2006. Nationally 42.4 million people fell below the poverty line in 2009, 4 million more than before the recession began…”

Recession forces rise in low-wage families, report says, By Michael A. Fletcher, December 21, 2010, Washington Post: “The Great Recession, responsible for boosting unemployment to its highest levels in a generation, has sharply increased the percentage of working people who earn wages so paltry that they are struggling to survive, according to a new report. The share of working families earning less than double the official poverty threshold - $43,512 for a family of four - increased from 28 to 30 percent between 2007 and 2009, according to a report released Tuesday by the Working Families Project, a nonprofit group that advocates on behalf of the working poor. Overall, the report said, the number of people living in low-income working families increased by 1.7 million to 45 million between 2008 and 2009. In November, the jobless rate rose to 9.8 percent, and has hovered near 10 percent for more than a year…”

State debt for jobless benefits looming, By Catherine Candisky, December 19, 2010, Columbus Dispatch: “Although the battle over extending unemployment benefits has been solved in Washington, Ohio still has no way to repay the $2.3 billion borrowed from a federal loan fund to continue the jobless benefits through the recession. Without a reprieve from Congress, that bill comes due next year, at the same time state leaders will be grappling to close a projected $8 billion shortfall in the two-year state budget that begins in July. Given the budget crisis in Ohio and other states, many are hoping the due date for repayments will be extended again or the loan wiped out altogether…”

• Census Bureau data: Richest counties get richer, poorest get poorer, By Susanna Kim, December 19, 2010, ABC News: “The rich get richer and the poor get poorer, at least judging by the most extreme neighborhoods for median household income in the latest Census Bureau data. The census’ American Community Survey, released last week, provides detailed neighborhood data, including languages spoken in a home, commute time and income levels. The poorest county, Owsley County, Ky., had the lowest median household income outside of Puerto Rico. Its median income decreased to $18,869 from $20,346 in 2000. Of all the county or county equivalents, Falls Church, Va. had the highest median income, at $113,313, an increase from $96,449 in 2000…”
• Poverty up by 10% in most Wisconsin counties, By Ben Poston, December 19, 2010, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “In a sign that a waning economic tide lowers all boats, the majority of Wisconsin counties saw their poverty rates increase by more than 10% since 2000, a new report from the University of Wisconsin Extension finds. And newly released figures from the Census Bureau show there are now 10 counties with poverty rates higher than 15%, including Milwaukee County, where 18% of residents are impoverished. In the last decennial census, only two - Menominee and Milwaukee counties - had rates that high. Meanwhile, Milwaukee County’s suburbs reported the lowest poverty rates in the state. Waukesha and Ozaukee counties had poverty rates of 4.1%, followed by Washington County at 5.3%. Those counties also had the lowest rates in 2000…”
• Poverty deepens its hold on some metro-east communities, By Kevin Bersett, December 17, 2010, Belleville News-Democrat: “Numbers don’t usually tell the whole story. And sometimes they contradict what people on the street see every day. That was the case with those asked to respond to data about the percentage of families living in poverty released Tuesday as part of the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey five-year estimate. This survey was based on data gathered from questionnaires sent to about 3 million households nationwide every year between Jan. 1, 2005, and Dec. 31, 2009. Some metro-east communities saw dramatic changes in their poverty levels compared with data compiled for the 2000 census count…”
• Survey finds Southern Nevada increasingly educated and diverse, By Jackie Valley, December 17, 2010, Las Vegas Sun: “A new survey released by the U.S. Census Bureau paints Southern Nevada as a more educated and diverse populace - at least according to community data gathered from 2005 through 2009. The five-year American Community Survey released Tuesday shows that more Clark County residents possess higher education degrees compared to 10 years ago. According to the survey, 21.3 percent of county residents have a bachelor’s degree or higher compared to 17.3 percent in 2000. The ongoing survey, which focuses on socioeconomic information in communities and is separate from the 2010 Census, took the place of the long-form Census questionnaire so Census workers can focus on calculating the size and location of the country’s population. This year marks the first release of the five-year survey, collected over 60 months and billed as the most reliable of the American Community Surveys…”

• Benefits: Jobless relieved life raft still afloat, By Meghan Barr (AP), December 19, 2010, Washington Post: “Kimberly Smith holds up the piece of paper that is the only thing keeping her from bankruptcy: an application for extended unemployment benefits. She’s not happy that she needs it. And she’s upset that it was nearly taken away. ‘I do deserve it,’ the 49-year-old says. ‘I’ve done everything I could to try and get a job. I tried to get back into the retail industry. I made the effort to, at my age, go back to college.’ President Barack Obama extended unemployment benefits for Smith and millions of other Americans when he signed tax-cut legislation Friday. It helps people who have been out of work more than 26 weeks but less than 99 weeks, though the benefits vary greatly from state to state. They could be just about anybody. People with college degrees and people with no higher education. People who have resorted to living out of their cars. People who have cashed out their retirement savings. People who once held six-figure jobs and people like Smith, who was laid off from her job as a department manager at a jeweler’s a year and a half ago. What unites them is the bitterness in their voices as they talk about how badly they need unemployment benefits - to clothe their children, to pay for heat, to save their homes from foreclosure…”
• Jobless benefits are extended - but hold the applause, By Tami Luhby, December 20, 2010, CNNMoney.com: “Millions of jobless Americans are no doubt cheering the tax cut deal that President Obama signed into law Friday. The legislation provides for 13 more months to apply for extended jobless benefits, but not everyone who’s unemployed will be eligible for these extended benefits. In fact, residents in at least five states won’t have access to the same level of unemployment benefits as their peers nationwide. That’s because the unemployment rate in those states is improving, so, according to federal law, the jobless there can’t receive checks for as long as those in harder-hit states…”

• Southern Indiana’s education gains fail to stem poverty rise, By Ben Zion Hershberg, December 14, 2010, Louisville Courier-Journal: “Despite recent gains in education, poverty rates in Southern Indiana counties have climbed and average household incomes have dropped. Those findings released Tuesday by the U.S. Census Bureau show more adults with high school diplomas in Clark, Floyd and Harrison counties and more who are college graduates in Clark and Floyd for the 2005-09 survey period, compared with 2000 Census data. But household incomes, adjusted for inflation, are down in all three counties, and poverty rates are higher in Clark and Floyd…”
• Tiny city tops lists for poverty and youth opportunity, By Sasha Aslanian, December 16, 2010, Minnesota Public Radio: “Landfall is a tiny city east of St. Paul, right behind a Harley Davidson dealership on the edge of a small lake. It’s a mobile home park of about 700 residents. More than a quarter of them live in poverty, which the federal government defines as just short of $11,000 for an individual in 2009. ‘You cannot live cheaper than living in Landfall,’ said Greg Feldbrugge, mayor of Landfall. Everyone knows him as ‘Flash’, a nickname he earned during his days as a stockcar racer. He moved here 13 years ago, and has been mayor for the last 4…”
• Data show households in southern, eastern Oklahoma get most public assistance dollars, By Gavin Off, December 15, 2010, Tulsa World: “According to U.S. Census Bureau data, public assistance payments to households in some southern or eastern Oklahoma counties nearly doubled the state’s average household payment in 2009. However, the top individual recipient counties were outside those areas. On average, households in Logan and Jackson counties received more than $130 in public assistance last year, the most of any county. Households in McCurtain and Choctaw counties received more than $90 in public assistance last year. The state average was $50. Tulsa County households received an average of $60, data show…”
• Census numbers bear out rise in poverty, By Dorothy Schneider, December 15, 2010, Lafayette Journal and Courier: “Jennifer Bickett knows firsthand that more people are struggling to make ends meet in Tippecanoe County, as was confirmed by new U.S. Census data released Tuesday. The Lafayette resident cited shopping at Goodwill as one of the ways she’s tried to save money on clothes and household items. Bickett’s husband worked in the auto industry until 2008, ‘when everything went kerplunk,’ she said. Now, she said, he’s in an electrician apprenticeship, earning about half of his former salary. Meanwhile, Bickett’s own job as a real estate agent hasn’t been paying dividends, given the ongoing sales lag and foreclosure crisis. ‘For now we definitely have to cut back on spending,’ she said. That’s a common refrain among Tippecanoe County residents, according to information released Tuesday from the American Community Survey…”
• Census: Segregation hits 100-year lows in most American metro areas, By Patrik Jonsson, December 14, 2010, Christian Science Monitor: “A drive through Atlanta’s older “intown” residential areas quickly bears out new Census findings: That segregation by race in the US is fading in many, though far from all, American neighborhoods. Atlanta is one of several predominantly Southern and Western cities that showed a noticeable integration trend over the last five years as both middle-class blacks and whites moved into each other’s neighborhoods, according to the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey of 10 million Americans, released Tuesday. The ACS is the largest demographic survey ever done in the United States…”
• Census data show ’surprising’ segregation, By Haya El Nasser, December 14, 2010, USA Today: “Despite increased racial and ethnic diversity, American neighborhoods continue to be segregated and some of the progress made toward integration since 1980 has come to a halt this decade, according to an analysis of Census Bureau data released Tuesday. ‘This is a surprising result,’said Brown University sociology professor John Logan, who analyzed 2005-09 Census numbers. ‘At worst, it was expected that there would be continued slow progress.’ The five-year data from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey provide the first opportunity to gauge post-2000 demographic trends all the way down to small neighborhoods…”
• Milwaukee area tops Brookings segregation study of census data, By Tom Tolan and Bill Glauber, December 14, 2010, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “Burdened by history and shaped by demography, Milwaukee remains one of the most racially segregated large metropolitan areas in the nation, according to U.S. census data released Tuesday and analyzed by the Brookings Institution. The city and surrounding area, including Milwaukee, Waukesha, Washington and Ozaukee counties, sit atop a black-white segregation index of America’s top 100 metro areas. Milwaukee is in a virtual tie with the Detroit and New York metro areas, and just ahead of Chicago, Cleveland, Buffalo and St. Louis. While the study was getting national attention, two University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee researchers cast doubt on the findings, saying the way segregation is defined defies common sense…”

Despite predictions, new report shows decrease in number of US children suffering abuse, By David Crary (AP), December 16, 2010, Los Angeles Times: “The rate of child maltreatment in the U.S. decreased in 2009 for the third consecutive year, according to new federal figures. Although the decrease was slight, it ran counter to the predictions of some experts that the onset of the recession in late 2008 would trigger an upsurge of abuse. The annual report from the Department of Health and Human Services, issued Thursday, said the estimated number of victimized children dropped from 772,000 in 2008 to 763,000 last year. That’s down from 903,000 in 2006. The rate of abuse was 10.1 per 1,000 children, down from 10.3 in 2008, to reach the lowest level since the current tracking system began in 1990. The number of fatalities arising from abuse and neglect, however, rose slightly, from 1,740 in 2008 to 1,770 last year…”

Following Felix: Special education in Hawaii 5 years after federal oversight, series homepage, December 15, 2010, Honolulu Star-Advertiser.

As budget cuts loom, aid agencies fear worst, By David Abel, December 16, 2010, Boston Globe: “Having been hit hard in recent years, as budget cuts have taken a steady toll and demands for their services have spiked, the state’s social service providers now worry that the worst is yet to come. The Patrick administration announced this week that it intends to cut as much as $1.5 billion from next year’s budget, potentially eviscerating social services statewide. The cuts have loomed for months as political leaders and economists warned of a shortfall for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1. With Patrick and state lawmakers saying they need to make between $1 billion to $2 billion in reductions and with federal stimulus money exhausted, the reality of an even worse year is sinking in. Providers are pleading for the governor to spare them…”

Spending cuts ‘will see rise in absolute child poverty’, By Randeep Ramesh, December 16, 2010, The Guardian: “The government’s radical programme to slash spending will see the first rise in absolute child poverty for 15 years, with almost 200,000 children pushed into penury, according to an analysis by the Institute of Fiscal Studies. Tax changes introduced by the coalition government will, the leading independent fiscal thinktank finds, increase absolute poverty by 200,000 children and 200,000 working-age adults in 2012-13. Cuts to housing benefit alone will force a further 100,000 children into poverty. In the next three years the IFS says average incomes are forecast to stagnate and this, coupled with deep cuts in welfare, will see a rise in relative poverty for children and working-age adults of 800,000 and a rise in absolute poverty for the same group of 900,000. The institute directly challenges the government’s claim that the impact of the budget would have no effect on child poverty…”

Medicaid addition will help more Minnesota poor, By Warren Wolfe, December 15, 2010, Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune: “Minnesota can add 95,000 low-income adults to its Medicaid rolls, vastly improving their medical care, at no additional cost to the state, two officials at the state Department of Human Services told legislators Tuesday. That’s because the federal government would pick up roughly half the cost of their care under Medicaid, while thousands of them now use skimpier programs funded by the state. The testimony contradicts assertions by Gov. Tim Pawlenty that moving those patients into the state-federal Medicaid program — allowed under the new federal health care law — would cost Minnesota $431 million over the next three years. Pawlenty cited the cost last spring in opposing the shift…”

• Report: Colorado poverty levels rise, By Colleen O’Connor, December 15, 2010, Denver Post: “The number of Colorado neighborhoods with a significant number of residents living in poverty doubled over the past decade, according to Census Bureau data released Tuesday. Neighborhoods with at least 20 percent of people in poverty doubled from about one in 10 at the start of the decade to one in five by the end of the decade. For children, the reality was even more harsh: One in five neighborhoods had at least 20 percent of its children living in poverty in 2000, which increased to an average of one in three neighborhoods between 2005 and 2009. The number of neighborhoods with at least 30 percent of children living in poverty nearly tripled, to 206 in the second half of the decade from 74 at the start…”
• Census details poverty, low education in Eastern Kentucky, By Marcus Green, December 14, 2010, Louisville Courier-Journal: “Kentucky has 13 counties, mostly in the eastern part of the state, whose median household incomes are below $25,000 — including Owsley County, which also has the nation’s smallest percentage of bachelor’s degrees, new U.S. Census Bureau data shows. The figures from the American Community Survey put the poverty and low education in Kentucky’s rural regions in contrast to the more prosperous counties near Louisville, Lexington and Cincinnati…”
• Rural America gets even more sparsely populated, By Doug Smith and Richard Fausset, December 15, 2010, Los Angeles Times: “The majority of the nation’s sparsely populated rural counties lost even more residents in the last decade, though some of the counties - particularly those in the Mountain West - saw population gains that may be the result of retirees striking out for areas that are both scenic and affordable, according to a Times analysis of figures released by the Census Bureau on Tuesday. The data offer the first detailed portrait of heartland America in a decade, covering the roughly 1,400 counties of fewer than 20,000 people. The numbers also show a growing Latino presence in these counties…”
• Poverty in small towns increasing, By Michelle Dupler, December 15, 2010, Tacoma News Tribune: “Poverty rates in small towns in the Mid-Columbia tended to be higher than state and national averages between 2005 and last year, according to new U.S. Census Bureau estimates released Tuesday. Mesa, for example, had 53 percent of the Franklin County town’s estimated 472 residents lived in poverty, and had an annual median income of just $27,083. The national median income estimated for last year was $49,777, with 14.3 percent of people living in poverty…”
• Poverty rise in region’s small towns ’sobering’, By Louise Knott Ahern, December 15, 2010, Lansing State Journal: “Mid-Michigan’s small towns have not been spared the skyrocketing poverty rates that have plagued larger urban areas for the past several years, according to data released Tuesday. The American Community Survey by the U.S. Census Bureau showed that even though towns such as Grand Ledge, Williamston and Eaton Rapids have seen only modest population changes since 2000, the number of families living beneath the federal poverty level has risen drastically. In Williamston, for example, the number of families living below poverty has risen from 6.4 percent in 2000 to an average of 15.5 percent over the past five years, according to the report…”

• Learning gaps slow to change, By Jason Wermers, December 14, 2010, Augusta Chronicle: “Student achievement gaps that run along lines of race and gender still persist, and educators’ efforts to narrow those differences have led to slow and uneven progress, according to a report being released today. That is true nationally as well as in Georgia and South Carolina, according to ‘State Test Score Trends through 2008-09, Part 2: Slow and Uneven Progress in Narrowing Gaps’ by the Center on Education Policy, a nonpartisan think tank based in Washington, D.C. ‘Achievement gap’ refers to the difference in test results among groups of students along racial, economic or other lines such as disabilities or English language skills…”
• Racial academic achievement gap remains a problem, By Brian Bull, December 15, 2010, Superior Telegram: “A new report says academic achievement gaps among racial lines persist among U.S. students, despite some progress. And narrowing these gaps will take awhile. The non-profit Center on Education Policy analyzed standardized test scores from all 50 states, with data going back nearly a decade. And while the center’s president, Jack Jennings says overall student performance has improved, he says it’s not nearly fast enough to close the gap…”

The Other Welfare, series homepage, Boston Globe: “The Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program for children was created mainly for those with severe physical disabilities. But the $10 billion in federal benefit checks now goes primarily to indigent children with behavioral, learning and mental conditions. Qualifying is not always easy — many applicants believe it is essential that a child needs to be on psychotropic drugs to qualify. But once enrolled, there is little incentive to get off. And officials rarely check to see if the children are getting better…”

• A legacy of unintended side effects, By Patricia Wen, December 12, 2010, Boston Globe: “Geneva Fielding, a single mother since age 16, has struggled to raise her three energetic boys in the housing projects of Roxbury. Nothing has come easily, least of all money. Even so, she resisted some years back when neighbors told her about a federal program called SSI that could pay her thousands of dollars a year. The benefit was a lot like welfare, better in many ways, but it came with a catch: To qualify, a child had to be disabled. And if the disability was mental or behavioral - something like ADHD - the child pretty much had to be taking psychotropic drugs. Fielding never liked the sound of that. She had long believed too many children take such medications, and she avoided them, even as clinicians were putting names to her boys’ troubles: oppositional defiant disorder, depression, ADHD. But then, as bills mounted, friends nudged her about SSI: ‘Go try.’ Eventually she did, putting in applications for her two older sons. Neither was on medications; both were rejected. Then last year, school officials persuaded her to let her 10-year-old try a drug for his impulsiveness. Within weeks, his SSI application was approved…”
• A coveted benefit, a failure to follow up, By Patricia Wen, December 13, 2010, Boston Globe: “Her toddler was adorable and rambunctious, but his vocabulary was limited to ‘Mommy’ and ‘that,’ while other children his age knew dozens of words. When little Alfonso tried a full sentence it came out in a swirl of sounds, often followed by a major league tantrum when he realized he was not understood. And so his mother, Roxanne Roman, was not surprised when the 18-month-old was diagnosed by a specialist with speech delay. It came as a shock, however, when she learned from relatives that Alfonso’s problem might qualify him for thousands of dollars in yearly disability payments through the federal Supplemental Security Income program. For Roman, pregnant with her second child at age 17 and living at her mother’s, the extra income was attractive. She wanted to rent her own place. Within three months, the boy’s application was approved. Alfonso receives $700 in monthly cash benefits, plus free government-paid medical coverage. Roman said her relatives told her she can pretty much count on the disability checks for Alfonso, now 5, to keep arriving in the mailbox for the rest of his childhood…”
• A cruel dilemma for those on the cusp of adult life, By Patricia Wen, December 14, 2010, Boston Globe: “Bianca Martinez is 15 and has a dream, to work someday as an animation artist, preferably in Japan, a country she has been fixated on for years. But for now the idea of getting any kind of paid job, even at the Holyoke Mall, where many of her teenage friends work, worries her because of what she might lose: Her $600-a-month federal disability check, which represents more than half her family’s income. ‘That’s why I’m not working this summer,’ said Martinez, a freshman at Holyoke High School who is being treated for ADHD and depression. ‘If I work and I get a certain amount, then they’ll take money away from my mom. She needs it. I don’t want my mom’s money to go down.’ Tens of thousands of teenagers who receive disability checks through the $10 billion federal Supplemental Security Income face this same painful dilemma: They are old enough to accept part-time jobs, but they worry that the extra income will be detected by the government and cause their benefits to be docked or terminated. In many cases, their indigent families have depended on the income for years…”

• Census data reveal pockets of wealth and poverty, By Sabrina Tavernise and Robert Gebeloff, December 14, 2010, New York Times: “The three places in the country with the highest median household income are all in Virginia, according to census datareleased on Tuesday, while those with the highest rates of poverty are in four American Indian reservations, all in South Dakota. The Virginia counties of Fairfax and Loudoun and the city of Falls Church had the highest median income, according to the data, which spans 2005 to 2009. Falls Church was the highest at $113,313, up by 17 percent from 2000. The lowest median income was in Owsley County, Ky., at $18,869. Of the five counties with poverty rates higher than 39 percent, four contain or are in American Indian reservations in South Dakota. The fifth, Willacy County, Tex., is on the Gulf Coast. The data is from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, which samples 1 in 10 Americans on a variety of social, economic and demographic topics. It is the single largest release of data in the bureau’s history, with 11 billion individual estimates covering 670,000 geographic locations. It gives details on the characteristics of American society based on surveys, and is separate from the 2010 Census, which will provide a precise count of all Americans…”
• New data to shed light on Minn. towns, big city neighborhoods, By Elizabeth Dunbar, December 14, 2010, Minnesota Public Radio: “There’s a reason the new school is being built on the other side of town, and that the bus route map looks the way it does — planners studied census data to better understand where and how we live and work. The U.S. Census Bureau collects data through the ongoing American Community Survey that inform decisions about public infrastructure. For the first time Tuesday, officials will release survey data collected over a five-year period, replacing the information that used to be collected on the long form of the census once every 10 years…”
• Black segregation in US drops to lowest in century, Associated Press, December 14, 2010, Washington Post: “America’s neighborhoods took large strides toward racial integration in the last decade as blacks and whites chose to live near each other at the highest levels in a century. Still, segregation in many parts of the U.S. persisted, with Hispanics in particular turning away from whites. A broad range of 2009 census data released Tuesday also found a mixed economic picture, with the poverty rate swinging wildly among counties from 4 percent to more than 40 percent as the nation grappled with a housing boom and bust. Just three U.S. localities reported median household income of more than $100,000, down from seven in 2000. Segregation among blacks and whites increased in one-fourth of the nation’s 100 largest metropolitan areas, compared to nearly one-half for Hispanics…”
• Census data out today may offer skewed view of south Louisiana, By Michelle Krupa, December 14, 2010, New Orleans Times-Picayune: “Today marks a milestone for the U.S. Census with the release this morning of the first-ever set of five-year estimates of the American Communities Survey, which has replaced the ‘long form’ questionnaire that for decades went to select households as part of the decennial census. It includes information collected between Jan. 1, 2005 and Dec. 31, 2009, on 72 topics that go beyond the basic data contained in the Census short form, such as citizenship status, geographic mobility, means of transportation to work and educational status. Because of the volume of data available, estimates will be provided for every state, county, city and town in the country — more than 670,000 distinct geographic areas…”
• U.S. Census: Impoverished areas growing in El Paso County, By Maria St. Louis-Sanchez, December 14, 2010, Colorado Springs Gazette: “The poor in El Paso County are growing in number, and more areas of the region are considered impoverished, according to U.S. Census data released Tuesday. Data released by the 2005-2009 American Community Survey show that 24 of the county’s 111 neighborhoods have an estimated 20 percent or more of their population living below the poverty level. In 2000, there were seven neighborhoods with a poverty level that high. In September, American Community Survey data revealed that in 2009, the poverty rate in El Paso County was at its highest point in five years at 11.5 percent. In 2009, the federal poverty level was $22,050 for a family of four. The 2005-2009 American Community Survey are five-year estimates of the population throughout the United States. The estimates mark the first time that neighborhood-level information has been released by the U.S. Census since 2000. The estimates are not part of the 2010 Census, which will have its first release of data on Dec. 21…”

Minimum wage increase to have little impact, By David Young, December 13, 2010, The Coloradoan: “Servers and minimum wage workers are set to get a slight raise come the first of the year. Colorado’s minimum wage is set to increase 12 cents starting in 2011 bringing the new minimum wage to $7.36. The minimum tipped employee wage will increase to $4.34 from $4.22. The increase is likely to have little impact on employees or employers according to experts. In accordance with the Colorado Constitution, the state’s minimum wage must be adjusted annually for inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index used for the state. Federal minimum wage is currently lower than Colorado’s at $7.25 per hour. Federal tipped minimum wage is currently $2.13 per hour. Martin Shields, CSU Regional economist, said that the increase is not much of an impact on the bottom line. The increase amounts to $4.80 in a 40 hour work week…”

Los Angeles confronts homelessness reputation, By Adam Nagourney, December 12, 2010, New York Times: “It was just past dusk in the upscale enclave of Brentwood as a homeless man, wrapped in a tattered gray blanket, stepped into a doorway to escape a light rain, watching the flow of people on their way to the high-end restaurants that lined the street. Across town in Hollywood the next morning, homeless people were wandering up and down Sunset Boulevard, pushing shopping carts and slumped at bus stops. More homeless men and women could be found shuffling along the boardwalks of Venice and Santa Monica, while a few others were spotted near the heart of Beverly Hills, the very symbol of Los Angeles wealth. And, as always, San Julian Street, the infamous center of Skid Row on the south edge of downtown Los Angeles, was teeming: a small city of people were making the street their home in a warm December sun, waiting for one of the many missions there to serve a meal. At a time when cities across the country have made significant progress over the past decade in reducing the number of homeless, in no small part by building permanent housing, the problem seems intractable in the County of Los Angeles…”

Colombia launches large-scale birth control effort, By Chris Kraul, December 12, 2010, Los Angeles Times: “When 80 women from the poor Agua Blanca district of Cali got free contraceptive implants last week, they became the first local beneficiaries of one of Latin America’s most liberal reproductive rights laws. Colombia’s Congress this fall passed a law guaranteeing all citizens access to free contraceptive drugs and surgical procedures, including vasectomies and tubal ligations. The benefits are only now filtering down to shanty neighborhoods such as this one in northeast Cali, where birthrates are among the nation’s highest, particularly among teenagers, health officials here said…”

• Welfare rules forcing people into destitution, report finds, By Laurie Monsebraaten, December 13, 2010, Toronto Star: “It is tougher to get welfare in Canada today than during the economic downturn of the early 1990s, the National Council of Welfare says in its latest report. That’s because Ontario and most other provinces force people to drain their bank accounts and spend all of their savings before they qualify for help, says the report, released in Ottawa Monday. As a result, it is almost impossible for those living on welfare to get back on their feet, says the council, created by Ottawa in 1969 to advise the minister of human resources on poverty in Canada. Other problems include rates that fall far below any definition of poverty and welfare claw-backs that leave those who find some work no further ahead, the report notes…”
• Welfare rules forcing people into destitution: Report, By Norma Greenaway, December 13, 2010, Vancouver Sun: “Too many Canadians are being forced to deplete bank accounts, retirement savings and get rid of other assets to qualify for welfare, a new national report says. The rules imposed on welfare recipients in most provinces are overly restrictive and counterproductive, says the report released Monday by the National Welfare Council. The combination of low social assistance rates and low earning and asset limits produces a ‘perfect’ poverty trap with no escape hatch, especially for single people, council chairman John Rook told a news conference…”

New faces of homelessness, series homepage, November, 2010, Racine Journal Times: “Racine has a large homeless student population. This series examines what those students face and how they cope…”

• Poverty among children rises in Bergen, Passaic, By Carol Lawrence, December 10, 2010, The Record: “Poverty increased significantly for children in Bergen and Passaic counties over the last two years, according to figures released by the U.S. Census Bureau. The poverty rate for Passaic County children ages 5 to 17 in families jumped to nearly 24 percent from 17.5 percent in 2007, and in Bergen County, the rate rose to more than 7 percent from 5.6 percent in 2007. Nationally, the rate rose in 295 counties and dropped in 19 counties over the two-year span, but there was no significant change in the majority of counties, according to figures released in the 2009 Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates…”
• Ziebach County still poorest in America, By Mary Garrigan, December 10, 2010, Rapid City Journal: “Ziebach County on the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation in northwest South Dakota retained its infamous title as the poorest county in America in 2009, according to a new Census Bureau report released this week. Poverty rates for counties and school districts throughout the United States were part of the Census Bureau’s Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates. In Ziebach County, 62 percent of its 2,552 residents live in poverty. The rate of children younger than 18 in the county was even higher — 76.7 percent. In the Midwest region, the seven poorest counties are in South Dakota, and two others — Bennett and Dewey counties — also made the list of the 30 Midwest counties with the highest poverty rates…”
• Somerset County schoolchildren face state’s highest poverty levels, By Michaelle Bond, December 9, 2010, Delmarva Daily Times: “More than one in four school-aged children in Somerset County and Baltimore City school districts live in poverty, the highest rates in the state, according to recently released census data. In these two school districts, plus those in Dorchester and Allegany counties, the percentage of students in poverty exceeds the country’s 17.9 percent average, according to 2009 census data released Wednesday…”
• As expected, Utah poverty rates rose from 2007 to 2009, By Julia Lyon, December 9, 2010, Salt Lake Tribune: “Following a nationwide trend, Utah saw poverty spike from 9.8 percent in 2007 to 11.7 percent in 2009, according to new data released this week by the U.S. Census Bureau. One of the largest increases came in Washington County, where the rate jumped from 8.9 percent in 2007 to 14.2 percent in 2009. Ruben Garcia, director of the Dixie Care and Share Food Pantry in St. George, wasn’t surprised to hear the numbers. ‘A lot of our donors from previous years are now clients,’ he said. ‘There’s a lot of working poor in Washington County.’ The state’s most populous county, Salt Lake County, saw its poverty rate rise from 9 percent in 2007 to 10.7 percent two years later. The numbers were worse in Utah County, where poverty grew from 11.4 to 14.2 percent…”

• With tight budgets, states don’t scrimp on early education, By Cheryl Wetzstein, December 7, 2010, Washington Times: “Even as state legislators slice budgets for 2011, many lawmakers have crossed party lines to boost or maintain state spending on early child education programs, according to a report. The upbeat preschool funding report was released from Pre-K Now, a project of the Pew Center on the States. Still, 2011 promises to be another year for revenue-starved states to look for places - including early education - to reduce spending or demand the biggest bang for every buck…”
• State’s pre-kindergarten suffers funding decrease, By Christine Rogel, December 10, 2010, Las Cruces Sun-News: “Andrea Fierro depends on government-subsidized child care as a single mother with two children and a full-time job. Without it, she said she’d have to quit work and sign up for unemployment. ‘Here I am, a single mom trying to make ends meet,’ she said. ‘I would end up paying $900-plus for my two girls to go (to day care) and I don’t even bring that much home.’ An estimated 1,000 children depend on government-subsidized child care in Las Cruces. And at most child-care centers, 75 to 80 percent of children are subsidized, said Carolann Hoban, director of Living Hope Montessori, in an October interview. New Mexico’s pre-kindergarten program is experiencing its first significant funding decrease since the program began in fiscal year 2006, according to a report released Wednesday by the Pew Center on the States…”

Fewer cities report decline in unemployment rate, By Christopher S. Rugaber (AP), December 7, 2010, Washington Post: “Unemployment fell in more than half of the nation’s largest cities in October while rising in nearly a third, offering a mixed outlook for hiring. The jobless rate dropped in 200 of the 372 largest metro areas in October, compared to the previous month, the Labor Department said Tuesday. It rose in 108 and remained the same in 64. That’s the fewest areas showing improvement since July. In September, unemployment fell in 321 metro areas and rose in only 31…”

To test housing program, some are denied aid, By Cara Buckley, December 8, 2010, New York Times: “It has long been the standard practice in medical testing: Give drug treatment to one group while another, the control group, goes without. Now, New York City is applying the same methodology to assess one of its programs to prevent homelessness. Half of the test subjects - people who are behind on rent and in danger of being evicted - are being denied assistance from the program for two years, with researchers tracking them to see if they end up homeless. The city’s Department of Homeless Services said the study was necessary to determine whether the $23 million program, called Homebase, helped the people for whom it was intended. Homebase, begun in 2004, offers job training, counseling services and emergency money to help people stay in their homes. But some public officials and legal aid groups have denounced the study as unethical and cruel, and have called on the city to stop the study and to grant help to all the test subjects who had been denied assistance…”

• Child poverty ‘rises’ among working households, December 6, 2010, BBC News: “Child poverty within working households is rising and now accounts for 58% of all UK cases, a report has found. A Joseph Rowntree Foundation report says there are 2.1 million impoverished youngsters in homes where parents are in work - up slightly on last year. Co-author Tom MacInnes said it showed work alone was not the answer to lifting people above the bread line. The Department for Work and Pensions said it was reforming the welfare system to ensure work always paid. Overall, the number of children living in poverty fell to 3.7 million, the report called Monitoring Poverty and Social Exclusion found…”
• Record levels of poverty among families with wages, By Jonathan Owen, December 5, 2010, The Independent: “A record number of children in the UK are living in poverty despite the fact that one or both of their parents work, according to a new report to be published tomorrow. The figure of 2.1 million is the highest on record - up 400,000 in the past five years, undermining the oft-repeated claim that people simply have to work their way out of poverty. The new figure accounts for more than half of the 3.7 million children living in poverty in Britain today, according to researchers from the New Policy Institute (NPI) who produced the report for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF). It is perhaps the most damning element of an analysis of the past decade, showing how initial progress in some areas has halted or been reversed…”
• Most children living in poverty are not from workless households, report finds, By Karen McVeigh, December 6, 2010, The Guardian: “The number of children of working parents who are living in poverty in the UK has risen to an unprecedented 2.1 million, a report has found. A report for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation found that while the number of impoverished children dropped overall to 3.7 million, the majority are now from homes where a parent or carer is working, accounting for 58% of the total. The number who live in workless households fell to 1.6 million - the lowest figure since 1984 - according to the Monitoring Poverty and Social Exclusion report…”

• Iowans’ incomes edge higher, Census Bureau report shows, By William Petroski, December 9, 2010, Des Moines Register: “The median household income in Iowa rose by less than $1,000 between 2007 and 2009, and the poverty rate climbed nearly 1 percentage point, but Iowans fared better than people in many other states hard-hit by the economic recession, according to a report released Wednesday by the U.S. Census Bureau. The median household income in Iowa last year was $48,065, which trailed the national median income of $50,221. Still, the Iowa figure increased from $47,324 two years earlier, while the national figure slid from $50,740 in 2007. Iowa’s statewide poverty rate in 2009 was 11.8 percent, up from 11 percent two years earlier. But it remained lower than the national poverty rate last year of 14.3 percent…”
• Census: County poverty rate stable, By Emily Schettler, December 9, 2010, Iowa City Press-Citizen: “New data released by the U.S. Census Bureau on Wednesday showed that while poverty increased in some counties, in many others, including Johnson County, poverty rates stayed the same or actually decreased from 2007 to 2009. According to the 2009 Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates, the poverty rate for children ages 5 to 17 in families rose in 295 counties and declined in 19 counties of the 3,140 counties studied. In Johnson County, like much of Iowa, there was not a significant statistical change from 2007 to 2009…”
• Childhood poverty worsens in Multnomah County, By Betsy Hammond, December 8, 2010, The Oregonian: “New estimates by the Census Bureau show that child poverty, already a serious problem in the eastern two-thirds of Multnomah County, worsened from 2008 to 2009. Based on tax returns and census surveys, federal officials estimate that the share of school-aged children living in poverty rose in nearly every Multnomah school district east of Portland Public Schools, including Reynolds, David Douglas, Centennial and Parkrose. Those four school districts together are home to 32,000 students, and all four saw their school-aged poverty rate rise at least 3 percentage points from 2008…”

New Medicaid computer system plagued with glitches, By Sean Collins Walsh, December 4, 2010, Seattle Times: “Washington’s new computer system for processing Medicaid payments is failing to pay so many valid claims that several doctors and clinics have stopped taking new Medicaid patients until they get paid for the ones they’ve already treated. Others say they may need to do the same, or even stop treating Medicaid patients altogether. The Web-based program, ProviderOne, was $54 million more expensive and three years later than planned when it launched in May, replacing a mainframe system for processing claims submitted by health-care providers on behalf of the state’s poorest patients…”

• Why is child care so costly in Minnesota?, By Jeremy Olson, December 6, 2010, Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune: “Minnesota child care leaders are meeting this winter to address a lingering dilemma: the high cost that produces quality child care in licensed centers — but prices some families out of the market. While officials have long known that Minnesota’s child care costs are among the highest in the nation, they have been reluctant to propose cuts that might sacrifice quality. The urgency to address cost has grown, though, as the economy has eroded family incomes and child care has eaten up more of the average family budget. Minnesota now ranks No. 3 nationally by one measure of child care expenses. The average cost of full-time care for one infant in a licensed center reached $13,650 in 2009, exceeding 15 percent of household income for a two-parent family. Only New York and Massachusetts were higher, as a share of income…”
• Child-care subsidy spotty for federal employees, By Joe Davidson, December 7, 2010, Washington Post: “Uncle Sam strives to be a model employer, as least for now. That goal could take a hit with plans for pay freezes and workforce reductions, but he remains a cut above many private employers, particularly when it comes to benefits. One benefit he provides, at least on paper and to some workers, is child-care subsidies. It’s certainly a good investment to support day care for the children of low- and moderate-income federal workers…”

Fewer tots deemed set for school, By Mary Vorsino, December 6, 2010, Honolulu Star-Advertiser: “This school year, more Hawaii kindergarten students started school without key skills, fewer had attended preschool and more than half came from low-income families, according to a new state Department of Education readiness report. The figures, all indicators of future academic outcomes for kids, put new urgency to long-term plans for a state-funded preschool program, say advocates and educators. Research has shown that low-income children, those who do not attend preschool and kids who fall behind in kindergarten are more likely to struggle through school than their peers. Educators say the kindergarten readiness report confirms what they have seen on their campuses: The economic downturn has meant many families cannot afford to send their children to preschool…”

• Disabled Nevadans could lose aides under state cuts, By Ray Hagar, December 5, 2010, Reno Gazette-Journal: “Meg Procaccini was born with cerebral palsy. Unable to move much, the 46-year-old spends her days between her bed and wheelchair in an apartment building for the disabled at William J. Raggio Plaza. Her Medicaid covers the cost of a personal-care aide, who operates a lift that gets her from bed to chair and back to bed again. The aide means everything to the quality of life she tries to maintain. Coverage of the personal-care aides for more than 6,540 disabled Nevadans is listed among the state Department of Health and Human Services proposed cuts, Director Mike Willden said. ‘If they take the aides out completely, I won’t be able to get out of bed,’ Procaccini said. ‘I will just be in my building alone. If they do these budget cuts and take the aides away from us, I won’t be able to live my life.’ As part of Gov.-elect Brian Sandoval’s $1.2 billion in proposed budget cuts, Health and Human Services will need to trim $200 million from its current budget or $500 million from its requested budget for the 2012-13 cycle. The aides are a big-ticket item, with $53 million requested to cover their costs in the next biennium…”
• State struggles to help disabled residents create independent life, By Laura Frank and Jennifer Lafleur, December 5, 2010, The Coloradoan: “Nearly one out of every four residents in Larimer County nursing homes wants out, an analysis of state and federal records shows. Colorado - which was the birthplace of the independent living movement three decades ago - now is struggling to help disabled residents receive care at home instead of at a facility. And that’s costing the state money. ‘Long-term care in general is costing the state more and more each year, just as more people need long-term care services and the costs of care continues to increase,’ said Tim Cortez, hired by the state in June to reform long-term care with the goals of serving more people and saving money. In 1999, the U.S. Supreme Court said people who can live independently have that right. Keeping them in nursing homes is a form of segregation, the court has said, and that violates their civil rights. But Colorado doesn’t have the resources or the infrastructure to assist all those seeking a change of living situation. And while the overall nursing home population is shrinking, the number of working-age Coloradans in nursing homes is actually growing…”

Mounting debts by states stoke fears of crisis, By Michael Cooper and Mary Williams Walsh, December 4, 2010, New York Times: “The State of Illinois is still paying off billions in bills that it got from schools and social service providers last year. Arizona recently stopped paying for certain organ transplants for people in its Medicaid program. States are releasing prisoners early, more to cut expenses than to reward good behavior. And in Newark, the city laid off 13 percent of its police officers last week. While next year could be even worse, there are bigger, longer-term risks, financial analysts say. Their fear is that even when the economy recovers, the shortfalls will not disappear, because many state and local governments have so much debt - several trillion dollars’ worth, with much of it off the books and largely hidden from view - that it could overwhelm them in the next few years…”

• Arizona Medicaid cuts seen as a sign of the times, By Kevin Sack, December 4, 2010, New York Times: “With enrollments exploding, revenues shrinking and the low-hanging fruit plucked long ago, virtually every state has had to make painful cuts to its Medicaid program during the economic downturn. What distinguishes the reductions recently imposed in Arizona, where coverage was eliminated on Oct. 1 for certain transplants of the heart, liver, lung, pancreas and bone marrow, is the decision to stop paying for treatments urgently needed to ward off death. The cuts in transplant coverage, which could deny organs to 100 adults currently on the transplant list, are testament to both the severity of fiscal pressures on the states and the particular bloodlessness of budget-cutting in Arizona…”
• Study: Millions could lose health coverage if Texas opts out of Medicaid, By Robert T. Garrett, December 3, 2010, Dallas Morning News: “Up to 2.6 million Texans could lose health coverage if the state opts out of Medicaid, but rising costs make the program very hard to maintain, a new state study warns. Texas faces ‘a no-win dilemma’ because withdrawing from Medicaid would mean a loss of about $15 billion in federal funds a year, representing about one-tenth of the state’s health care sector, said the report released by two state agencies Friday. And that would allow other states to siphon off that money, some of it from Texas taxpayers…”
• Redefine federal-state relationship with Medicaid, report says, By Tim Eaton, December 3, 2010, Austin American-Statesman: “If Texas were to opt out of Medicaid, as Gov. Rick Perry and other politicians have suggested, medical providers would lose about $15 billion in federal money, and the state would be hard-pressed to provide health care for poor people, according to a new report Friday. As the report circulated, Perry backtracked on his earlier suggestions, and he and other officials talked about hopes of reinventing the federal-state health care program for 3.2 million mostly poor, young and disabled Texans…”

Democrats try to revive child care subsidies, By Marisa Lagos, December 6, 2010, San Francisco Chronicle: “Democratic lawmakers, still fuming over Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s decision to eliminate child care subsidies for poor families, will hit back today with a bill that would restore funding to the program and guarantee day care for about 55,000 children.Speaker John Pérez, D-Los Angeles, authored the measure, which relies on a number of sources to pay for the program through June 30, the end of the fiscal year. Lawmakers will take up the bill next month, when Democrat Jerry Brown takes office as governor - with Pérez hoping Brown will be more sympathetic than Schwarzenegger, a Republican. Supporters of the day care subsidy cheered the decision, saying that restoring the subsidies would allow working parents to keep their jobs and eventually transition off state assistance entirely. Supporters had warned that cutting the program could ultimately cost taxpayers more than keeping it, because many parents, unable to afford child care, would quit their jobs and apply for welfare in order to stay home with their children…”

Rural areas face challenges to eradicate extreme poverty, By James Melik, December 6, 2010, BBC News: “Some 350 million people living in rural areas being lifted out of extreme poverty in the past decade, according to The Rural Poverty Report, published by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), a United Nations (UN) agency. However, in spite of this, more than a billion people around the world still continue to suffer. The UN describes extreme poverty as living on less than $1.25 (80p) a day. But factors such as human development, a lack of basic needs, vulnerability, livelihood, unsustainability and social exclusion are also considered in the report, which reflects on rural areas across the world and the implications for global food security. The last report came out in 2001 but, according to IFAD’s president Kananyo Nwanze, ideally it should come out more frequently. ‘You shouldn’t have to wait 10 years for a report of this nature,’ he says…”

Rich countries let poorest children fall behind, By Laurie Monsebraaten, December 2, 2010, Toronto Star: “Canadian children suffer greater income inequality than most developed nations, says a new UNICEF report being released Friday. The report, which for the first time ranks 24 countries in the Organization for Economic and Co-operative Development (OECD) in terms of equality in children’s health, education and material well-being, shows children in many rich nations are being left behind. ‘Falling behind is a critical issue not only for millions of individual children today, but for the economic and social future of their nations tomorrow,’ the report argues. The report, entitled, ‘The Children Left Behind,’ looked at inequality in child well-being by measuring the gap between the average child and the most disadvantaged children in three aspects of their lives - material well-being, educational achievement and physical health…”

• Recovery jolt: few new jobs as jobless rate rises to 9.8%, By Motoko Rich, December 3, 2010, New York Times: “In a jolting surprise to the economic recovery and market expectations, the United States economy added just 39,000 jobs in November, and the unemployment rate rose to 9.8 percent, according to the Department of Labor. November’s number was nowhere near enough to help the large ranks of the unemployed, and was far below analysts’ consensus forecast of close to 150,000 jobs and an unchanged jobless rate of 9.6 percent. More than 15 million people remain out of work, and 6.3 million of them have been unemployed for six months or longer…”
• Unemployment jumps, job creation slows. Is economic stall-out here?, By Ron Scherer, December 3, 2010, Christian Science Monitor: “The American jobs machine seems to have slipped into slow-motion mode in November. The US economy gained a disappointing 39,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate rose to 9.8 percent, up from 9.6 percent, the Labor Department reported Friday. This was a sharp drop-off from October, when the nation’s economy added 172,000 jobs. The report was a surprise to many economists, who had expected much better numbers given that recent statistics indicated that the economy was showing some signs of strength. Retailers, for example, have in recent days reported better-than-expected sales, but the jobs report showed a loss of 28,000 jobs in the sector. Moreover, some recent surveys pointed to greater optimism among consumers and businesses, but the November report showed very few sectors adding jobs, stagnant worker hours, and a rising tide of unemployed workers…”

Indian state empowers poor to fight corruption, By Lydia Polgreen, December 2, 2010, New York Times: “The village bureaucrat shifted from foot to foot, hands clasped behind his back, beads of sweat forming on his balding head. The eyes of hundreds of wiry village laborers, clad in dusty lungis, were fixed upon him. A group of auditors, themselves villagers, read their findings. A signature had been forged for the delivery of soil to rehabilitate farmland. The soil had never arrived, and about $4,000 was missing. The bureaucrat, a low-level field assistant who uses the single name Sreekanth, was suspected of stealing it. ‘I am a very rightful person,’ he declared. But the presiding official would have none of it. He ordered that the money be recovered and that Mr. Sreekanth be promptly disciplined. That simple verdict was part of a sweeping experiment in grass-roots democracy in rural India aimed at ensuring that the benefits of government programs for the poor actually go to the poor. It empowers villagers to act as watchdogs and to perform ’social audits’ like the one that meted out quick justice to Mr. Sreekanth. Their success or failure could have broad implications for India’s quest to lift hundreds of millions of people out of poverty…”

Number of seniors living in poverty soars nearly 25%, By Joe Friesen, November 24, 2010, Globe and Mail: “The number of seniors living in poverty spiked at the beginning of the financial meltdown, reversing a decades-long trend and threatening one of Canada’s most important social policy successes. The number of seniors living below the low-income cutoff, Statistics Canada’s basic measure of poverty, jumped nearly 25 per cent between 2007 and 2008, to 250,000 from 204,000, according to figures released on Wednesday by Campaign 2000. It’s the largest increase among any group, and as the first cohort of baby boomers turns 65 next year, could place increased pressure on families supporting elderly parents. Economists say women make up as much as 80 per cent of the increase in seniors poverty…”

To end poverty, guarantee everyone in Canada $20,000 a year. But are you willing to trust the poor?, By Erin Anderssen, November 19, 2010, Globe and Mail: “Nicole Gray, a 24-year-old single mother living in Victoria, feels like a ‘beggar’ every time she has to go into a government office and ask for help to pay her bills. She has finished her diploma to be an office medical assistant despite having gotten pregnant as a teenager. But job losses and the difficulty of raising her son, now 7, on her own have made her income unpredictable. Meanwhile, she says, the system is suspicious of every request and doubts every word. There are hundreds of rules. She has been sent away because she was missing one document. She has had to justify a no-contact order against her son’s father and had a caseworker scrutinize every detail of her bank account. Every interrogation ‘makes you feel very low to the ground,’ she says. And the worst, she says, is that you learn quickly ‘that you can’t count on anything.’ But what if we gave Ms. Gray and other poor Canadians something to count on: cash directly in their pockets, with no conditions, trusting people to do what’s right for them? It’s a bold idea, and it runs counter to the paternal approach to poverty that polices what is done with ‘our’ money and tries to strong-arm the poor into better lives…”

Irish cutbacks pile it on for ‘new poor’, By Guy Chazan, November 27, 2010, Wall Street Journal: “A church-run soup kitchen here symbolizes the human cost of Ireland’s crisis: Middle-class homeowners, squeezed by rising debt and falling incomes, line up for food parcels alongside foreign asylum-seekers and the long-term unemployed. These are Ireland’s ‘new poor’-ordinary people with houses and jobs laid low by years of austerity, and now facing even tougher times as the government slashes public-sector jobs, raises taxes and cuts social welfare. Theresa Dolan runs the Capuchin Day Center near Dublin’s law courts that caters to the swelling ranks of the city’s poor. Before 2008, around 250 people came each day for a hot dinner, she says. Now there are 520. And the visitors’ profile is changing…”

Numbers not adding up for minority students in algebra classes, By Joe Robertson, November 30, 2010, Kansas City Star: “Algebra I in the eighth grade - before high school - is supposed to be the ticket that helps propel students to greater success beyond high school. But Kansas City area students aren’t getting an equal shot. Minority students and students from low-income families are significantly less likely than others to be enrolled in eighth-grade algebra, a Kansas City Star analysis of Missouri test records shows. Gaps were found between the percentage of minority and low-income students in eighth-grade classes and the percentage of those groups taking Algebra I. The gaps exceeded 20 percentage points at some schools. The Center School District, however, enrolls all of its eighth-graders in Algebra I. But more often area schools with some of the highest populations of poor or minority children tested few or no students in eighth-grade algebra…”

• Priced Out: High rents drive housing crisis, December 3, 2010, Centre Daily Times: “While local governments have devoted much attention in recent years to concerns over the lack of affordable housing, the debate has largely centered on the need for ‘work force’ housing, which would put home ownership within reach of more people. Almost unnoticed in the discussion was another aspect of the housing issue: the lack of affordable rental housing. But last summer, members of the Centre County Affordable Housing Coalition sounded a warning. The lack of low-income housing, they said, had become a crisis. For the past several months, CDT reporters have sought out experts in housing, both in Centre County and across the state, and talked with dozens of people who told tales of being on the brink of homelessness because of low-paying jobs, lost jobs, illnesses and misjudgments. Together, they paint a picture of a long-standing problem made more visible by the economic downturn. Andy Haines, of S&A Homes, stated it clearly: ‘A lot of people have lost jobs. They’re not looking to buy houses. They’re looking to keep a roof over their heads…’”
• New Orleans still lacks affordable housing for its poorest people, report says, By Katy Reckdahl, November 24, 2010, New Orleans Times-Picayune: “Like other parts of Louisiana, New Orleans still lacks housing that is affordable to its poorest people, the Louisiana Housing Finance Agency found in a statewide assessment of housing needs released this week. Policymakers now have more data showing where housing is needed, said Alison Jones, LHFA board chairwoman, who expressed hope that the data would ‘facilitate agreement … to help move forward critically needed housing projects.’ Time is running out on legislators’ last-ditch efforts to extend or allow the exchange of Gulf Opportunity Zone tax credits, which expire at the end of this year…”

• Congress approves Child Nutrition Bill, By Robert Pear, December 2, 2010, New York Times: “Congress gave final approval on Thursday to a child nutrition bill that expands the school lunch program and sets new standards to improve the quality of school meals, with more fruits and vegetables. Michelle Obama lobbied for the bill as a way to combat obesity and hunger. About half of the $4.5 billion cost is financed by a cut in food stamps starting in several years. Mrs. Obama said she was thrilled by passage of what she described as a groundbreaking piece of legislation. By a vote of 264 to 157, the House on Thursday passed the bill, which was approved in the Senate by unanimous consent in August. It goes now to President Obama, who intends to sign it…”
• House votes a $4.5 billion boost for child nutrition, school lunches, By Amanda Paulson, December 2, 2010, Christian Science Monitor: “Congress took aim at childhood obesity and hunger Thursday with passage of a landmark child nutrition bill. The bill, formally known as the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, includes some of the biggest changes to the Child Nutrition Act since the program was started nearly half a century ago. The House passed it by a vote of 264 to 157 Thursday. The Senate unanimously approved it in August, and President Obama is expected to sign it soon…”

• GOP puts BadgerCare, federal health care law in the cross hairs, By Mary Spicuzza, December 2, 2010, Wisconsin State Journal: “After rate hikes made paying for private health insurance impossible, Jim Phillips spent four uninsured years avoiding trips to the doctor’s office. Last year, the Monona small-business owner signed up for one of the state’s health insurance plans, known as BadgerCare Plus. Phillips, a 58-year-old hair stylist, has since had stomach problems he says would have left him $10,000 to $15,000 in debt if he had no insurance. ‘It would affect everything,’ he said. ‘It would affect how I pay my rent, buy groceries, work at the salon. It would be difficult to pay all the medical bills.’ Now Phillips worries he will lose his insurance if Gov.-elect Scott Walker and the Legislature’s majority Republicans, who frequently railed against ‘government-run health care’ during their campaigns, follow through on plans to make changes to BadgerCare and stop implementation of federal health care reforms in the state. For years, Wisconsin has been considered a national health care leader, expanding services and Medicaid programs far beyond federal requirements under Democratic and Republican governors alike. But in the face of a budget deficit that could top $3 billion over the next two years, Republican leaders say everything needs to be on the table for cuts - including the 9 percent of the budget that goes toward Medical Assistance programs…”
• Rising Medicaid costs mean service cuts likely, By Ken Kusmer (AP), December 1, 2010, Chicago Tribune: “Indiana lawmakers likely will cut some Medicaid-provided services in the upcoming legislative session after learning Wednesday that the state’s share of government health insurance program costs will balloon by $1.1 billion over the next two years unless checked. The federal government pays about two-thirds of Indiana’s Medicaid costs, but human services chief Michael Gargano told the State Budget Committee that the state’s share has been growing by more than 10 percent each year. He said that’s because the recession has made more people eligible for Medicaid, which serves those who are needy and disabled. Gargano, secretary of the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration, asked for an additional $900 million in state Medicaid funds over the two-year period starting next July 1. He recommended the General Assembly rein in the costs by cutting some optional services the state currently provides…”

• Unemployed, and likely to stay that way, By Catherine Rampell, December 2, 2010, New York Times: “The longer people stay out of work, the more trouble they have finding new work. That is a fact of life that much of Europe, with its underclass of permanently idle workers, knows all too well. But it is a lesson that the United States seems to be just learning. This country has some of the highest levels of long-term unemployment - out of work longer than six months - it has ever recorded. Meanwhile, job growth has been, and looks to remain, disappointingly slow, indicating that those out of work for a while are likely to remain so for the foreseeable future. Even if the government report on Friday shows the expected improvement in hiring by business, it will not be enough to make a real dent in those totals. So the legions of long-term unemployed will probably be idle for significantly longer than their counterparts in past recessions, reducing their chances of eventually finding a job even when the economy becomes more robust…”
• Extensions for unemployment benefits started to expire earlier this month, By Jeff Bollier, December 2, 2010, Oshkosh Northwestern: “Back in April, when Congressmen and Senators last debated an extension of unemployment benefits, policy groups estimated failure to act would impact about 1,600 Wisconsinites. Congress eventually agreed to extend unemployment benefits to a maximum of 99 weeks. Now, the end of those benefits could have a more far-reaching impact. The extensions approved earlier this year started to expire this month, and the U.S. Department of Labor estimates a decision not to extend benefits now would leave almost 44,000 state residents and 2 million Americans without financial assistance, guaranteeing a dismal holiday season for people already struggling with bills and expenses…”

House votes to send child nutrition bill to President Obama, By Nick Anderson, December 2, 2010, Washington Post: “The Democratic-led House voted Thursday to send President Obama a bill that would enable more poor children to receive free meals at school, raise the nutritional quality of cafeteria fare, and reduce the junk food and sugary beverages sold in school vending machines. The bill, which cleared the Senate in the summer, won House approval on a 264-157 vote. More than 15 Republicans broke party ranks to join Democrats in favor of the bill. A handful of Democrats were opposed. The bill, a priority for the president and first lady Michelle Obama, would boost spending on child nutrition $4.5 billion over 10 years and raise federal reimbursements for school lunches more than the inflation rate for the first time since 1973. It also would require for the first time that free drinking water be available where meals are served…”

• Few bright spots in new Kids Count report, By Ruth Campbell, November 30, 2010, Fort Scott Tribune: “Although Bourbon County surpasses its peers and the state in percentage of mothers who get prenatal care and has a lower percentage of low birth-weight babies than the rest of Kansas, its infant mortality rate rate is among the worst in the state, according to data from a Kids County report released Tuesday. Kansas Kids Count is produced by Kansas Action for Children and funded in part by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Kansas Action for Children is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to shaping policy that improves the lives of Kansas children and families. Data collection and analysis were provided by the Kansas Health Institute, according to the report…”
• Economic recession taking a toll on Kansas children, reports indicate, By Scott Rothschild, November 30, 2010, Lawrence Journal-World: “Many Kansas children aren’t faring well, according to two reports released Tuesday. In its annual survey, Kansas Action for Children said the troubled economic times are having an impact on youngsters. ‘As more working families struggle to make ends meet, more children are relying on free and reduced school lunches and more children are growing up without health coverage,’ said Shannon Cotsoradis, president of KAC. The new Kansas KIDS COUNT data showed that 45 percent of Kansas school children receive free or reduced lunch, 40 percent of children are growing up in low-income households, and 10 percent of Kansas children are uninsured…”
• Kids Count releases data, By Angela Deines, November 30, 2010, Topeka Capital-Journal: “When it comes to mothers getting adequate prenatal care, children getting properly immunized and the number of violent teen deaths, Shawnee County fares well compared to statewide numbers in the latest Kansas Kids Count data. ‘The good news is your immunizations are up,’ said Shannon Cotsoradis, executive director of Kansas Action for Children. ‘But the economic indicators aren’t as good.’ The report, a joint effort by the Annie E. Casey Foundation and Kansas Action for Children, shows higher poverty rates for Shawnee County children than the statewide rate and one out of two children qualify for free or reduced-price lunch…”
• Study: More Kansas kids in poverty, By Matthew Clark, December 1, 2010, Pittsburg Morning Sun: “More Kansas children are living in poverty and those who already are have seen their conditions worsen. That is the result of the KIDS COUNT study, which was released on Tuesday by the Kansas Action for Children (KAC) and The Annie E. Casey Foundation. The study concluded that approximately 45 percent of Kansas school children are participating in free and reduced lunches and 40 percent are growing up in low-income (23.08 percent) or poverty-stricken (17.33 percent) households. In addition, one in 10 Kansas children are currently not covered by health insurance…”

Millions to lose unemployment benefits, By David Welna, December 1, 2010, National Public Radio: “Things just got worse for the millions of Americans who have been unemployed for up to 99 weeks. At the stroke of midnight Tuesday, a short-term extension of jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed expired as Democrats and Republicans in Congress failed to agree on how those benefits should be further extended. Congress decided last July to extend long-term unemployment insurance only until the end of November. November has now given way to December, and West Virginia Democratic Sen. John D. Rockefeller lamented that those benefits have run out, just in time for the holiday season. ‘I feel terrible about it, particularly in West Virginia where everybody’s fighting to survive all the time. And we have to do it,’ he said. ‘Why we haven’t done it, I don’t know.’ The House has already tried once - and failed - in the current lame-duck session to extend the jobless benefits. In the Senate, No. 2 Democrat Dick Durbin appeared stricken Tuesday when asked what that chamber planned to do about the 2 million people losing their jobless benefits…”

Funding delays, housing complexities slow Haiti rebuilding effort, By William Booth and Mary Beth Sheridan, November 25, 2010, Washington Post: “Yolette Pierre says thank you, America. She points to the plastic over her head, to a gray sack on the dirt floor, to a bucket in the corner. Thank you for the tarp. Thank you for the rice. Thank you for the water, too. She is as sincere as she is poor. The $3.5 billion in international relief spent after the worst natural disaster in a generation succeeded in its main mission. ‘We kept Haitians alive,’ said Nigel Fisher, chief of the U.N. humanitarian mission. Now the really hard part begins. To weary Haitians such as Pierre, mired in a fetid camp, hoping to sweep away the tons of earthquake rubble and remake broken lives, the wait for $6 billion in rebuilding money promised in March by the United States and other donor nations is more than frustrating. It is almost cruel. Ten months after the earthquake left more than a million people homeless, only a small fraction of that recovery money has been put into projects that Haitians can see…”