Illinois House OKs studying cost of ID photos on food stamp cards, By Dave McKinney and Stephen Di Benedetto, April 13, 2011, Chicago Sun-Times: “After a stormy debate, the Illinois House voted Tuesday to commission a study on how expensive it would be to put photos on the ATM-like cards used for food stamps and cash assistance. Designed to combat fraud, the legislation, which passed 64-48 and now moves to the Senate, would give the Department of Human Services six months to report back to the Legislature with an estimate and to figure out how caregivers could buy groceries for their clients with so-called Link cards bearing the clients’ photos…”

Digital age is slow to arrive in rural America, By Kim Severson, February 17, 2011, New York Times: “After a couple of days in this part of rural Alabama, it is hard to complain about a dropped iPhone call or a Cee Lo video that takes a few seconds too long to load. The county administrator cannot get broadband at her house. Neither can the sportswriter at The Thomasville Times. Here in Coffeeville, the only computer many students ever touch is at the high school. ‘I’m missing a whole lot,’ said Justin Bell, 17. ‘I know that.’ As the world embraces its digital age - two billion people now use the Internet regularly - the line delineating two Americas has become more broadly drawn. There are those who have reliable, fast access to the Internet, and those, like about half of the 27,867 people here in Clarke County, who do not. In rural America, only 60 percent of households use broadband Internet service, according to a report released Thursday by the Department of Commerce. That is 10 percent less than urban households. Over all, 28 percent of Americans do not use the Internet at all…”

Federal audit targets delays, errors in Colorado’s benefits computer system, By Michael Booth, February 13, 2011, Denver Post: “Persistent delays and errors in the state computer system for Medicaid and food stamps have prompted federal officials to launch an ongoing performance review of Colorado’s multibillion-dollar benefit programs. The long-troubled Colorado Benefits Management System continued to malfunction after the federal review got underway last summer, with lockouts and slowdowns plaguing managers through at least December, documents obtained by The Denver Post show. Repeated internal complaints about system crashes also have raised questions about a $44 million contract with Deloitte consultants to overhaul a network that has proved problematic since its installation in 2004 at a cost of $223 million. Disclosure of the new federal audit, after an open-records request, comes as legal-aid attorneys continue their pursuit of court sanctions against the state Health Care Policy and Financing Department for delays in processing benefit records. Those delays have exceeded 70 percent of cases in some months…”

Home heating assistance seen at record high, By Jonathan Fahey (AP), San Jose Mercury News: “High energy prices, high unemployment and a cold winter are prompting a record number of households to seek home heating assistance. The National Energy Assistance Directors’ Association will announce Wednesday that 8.9 million households are expected to qualify for financial help this winter, up from 8.3 million last winter. It’s the third year in a row the number of households needing assistance has set a new high. The chief reason is the economy, according to Mark Wolfe, Executive Director of NEADA. ‘We have this group who weren’t poor before the recession, who are poor now and scrambling for whatever they can get,’ Wolfe says. ‘It’s a tough situation.’ Congress doubled funding for the program, called Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP, to $5.1 billion two years ago and matched that level last year. Congressional Republicans are expected to try to pare that back during budget negotiations next week…”

States’ unemployment debit cards often carry hidden costs, fees, By Pamela M. Prah, January 20, 2011, Stateline.org: “Like many out-of-work Americans, Philip Tressler gets his unemployment benefits deposited directly into his checking account. He could have received the benefits via a debit card that the state also offers. But Tressler, who was laid off 14 months ago after 32 years working for a grocery distributor in western Pennsylvania, didn’t go for the card. ‘It’s just not convenient,’ he says, especially since he doesn’t use the same bank that issues the state’s debit card. But there’s more than inconvenience at issue when it comes to state debit cards for the unemployed. Had Tressler decided to take one, he might have been subjected to a whole array of extra charges, including $1.50 for each withdrawal of cash from an ATM that isn’t ‘in-network.’ Pennsylvania is among some 30 states that offer debit cards as vehicles for unemployment insurance payments. These cards have their advantages. Workers get their benefits quicker, and states save money. And people without bank accounts can avoid check-cashing fees and make purchases without carrying large amounts of cash…”

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…”

Nokia taking a rural road to growth, By Kevin O’Brien, November 1, 2010, New York Times: “On Saturday at dawn, hundreds of farmers near Jhansi, an agricultural center in central India, received a succinct but potent text message on their cellphones: the current average wholesale price for 100 kilograms of tomatoes was 600 rupees. In a country where just 7 percent of the population have access to the Internet, such real-time market data is so valuable that the farmers are willing to pay $1.35 a month for the information. What is unusual about the service is the company selling it: Nokia, the Finnish cellphone leader, which unlike its rivals - Samsung, LG, Apple, Research In Motion and Sony Ericsson - is leveraging its size to focus on some of the world’s poorest consumers. Since 2009, 6.3 million people have signed up to pay Nokia for commodity data in India, China and Indonesia. On Tuesday, Nokia plans to announce it is expanding the program, called Life Tools, part of its Ovi mobile services business, to Nigeria…”

Recession officially over, use of food stamps stays at record high, By Husna Haq, October 26, 2010, Christian Science Monitor: “Before the recession, Mary Ellen Hayden was living an active New York City life. She worked days at a corporate job, nights as a professional singer, taught as a substitute on occasion - and all as she was finishing her certification in secondary English education. Then the recession hit and Ms. Hayden found herself out of a job and living on a shoestring budget in the most expensive city in the US. ‘Things were drying up left and right,’ says Hayden, who had completed her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at private universities in the Northeast. When a friend told her she could qualify for food stamps, she hesitated, but not for long. ‘I was surprised it existed for me,’ says Hayden, who moved recently to more-affordable Rochester, N.Y. ‘And embarrassed because I’d never done it before. You think, ‘Oh my gosh, I hope no one sees me.’ It’s a humbling experience for someone who’s never been on it before.’ The recession introduced millions of Americans to food stamps - many of them, like Hayden, for the first time. Now, more than a year after the recession is officially said to have ended, more Americans than ever are on food stamps, and the trend is higher still…”

Welfare recipients pay banks millions in fees, By Marisa Lagos, October 15, 2010, San Francisco Chronicle: “Banks are making nearly $1.5 million a month in fees by charging California welfare recipients to withdraw their benefits using ATMs and debit cards - an amount that has nearly doubled since 2008. The sharp increase comes as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s administration has made cracking down on fraud in the state’s welfare-to-work program a priority, most recently by barring use of welfare debit cards at casinos and cruise ships after media reports revealed that nearly $70 million in benefits had been withdrawn outside the state since 2007. Advocates for the poor say that while Schwarzenegger has rightly cracked down on such abuses, he has failed to curb another source of waste: escalating bank fees that take money from needy families and from the California businesses where that money would otherwise flow. By the end of this year, they estimate, more than $38 million will have been transferred from poor families to banks in the form of ATM and debit fees over the past three years. For example, in 2008, according to state figures, banks collected $10.1 million in fees from welfare recipients; this year, they are on track to collect more than $15 million. In June 2008, recipients paid out $833,000; banks collected $1.44 million the same month this year…”

• Rise in fuel poverty is a ‘national scandal’, By Graham Snowdon, October 14, 2010, The Guardian: “A senior charity executive has described the increase in fuel poverty as ‘a national scandal’ after official figures released today showed that the number of fuel-poor families rose to 4.5m in 2008, around one in six of all UK households. A fuel-poor family is defined as one that has to spend more than 10% of its income on heating its home to a decent standard. According to the latest data in the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) statistics, an extra half a million households fell into this category from 2007-2008. The Annual Report on Fuel Statistics 2010 showed vulnerable households in the UK as a whole - around three-quarters of homes - were especially hard-hit, with fuel poverty in these homes rising to 3.75m in 2008, up by 500,000 from the previous year…”
• Fuel poverty doubles in five years, By Harry Wollop, October 14, 2010, The Telegraph: “With the average British fuel bill climbing to well over £1,000 a year - for many pensioners the largest bill they have to pay all year - a worryingly large number of people are struggling to keep their homes warm. A household is defined as being fuel poor if it has to spend 10 per cent or more of its income on paying to keep the home adequately warm. In 2003 the number of households hit a low of two million, but it climbed to four million in 2007 and then 4.5 million in 2008, the figures for which were published today by the Department of Energy & Climate Change…”

$69 million in California welfare money drawn out of state, By Jack Dolan, October 4, 2010, Los Angeles Times: “More than $69 million in California welfare money, meant to help the needy pay their rent and clothe their children, has been spent or withdrawn outside the state in recent years, including millions in Las Vegas, hundreds of thousands in Hawaii and thousands on cruise ships sailing from Miami. State-issued aid cards have been used at hotels, shops, restaurants, ATMs and other places in 49 other states, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Guam, according to data obtained by The Times from the California Department of Social Services. Las Vegas drew $11.8 million of the cash benefits, far more than any other destination. The money was accessed from January 2007 through May 2010. Welfare recipients must prove they can’t afford life’s necessities without government aid: A single parent with two children generally must earn less than $14,436 a year to qualify for the cash assistance and becomes ineligible once his or her income exceeds about $20,000, said Lizelda Lopez, spokeswoman for the Department of Social Services…”

Welfare boss says backlog, errors fall, By Ken Kusmer (AP), Fort Wayne Journal Gazette: “Indiana human services chief Anne Murphy told a legislative panel Tuesday that the face-to-face contact for clients that she has added to the state’s error-plagued welfare automation system is showing success, but lawmakers said many problems remain. Murphy, secretary of the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration, said error rates are down and the percentage of new applications for food stamps, Medicaid and other benefits on backlog has fallen by 83 percent or more in southwest and west-central Indiana after her agency made the changes in those two regions. ‘Hybrid is what’s driving down this percentage,’ Murphy told the Medicaid Oversight Commission. FSSA rolled out the ‘hybrid’ system to 10 southwest counties in January and 11 west-central counties in June. The agency added 16 more southern counties this month…”

‘Successful weatherization’ effort?, By Alison Knezevich, September 4, 2010, Charleston Gazette: “In April 2009, West Virginia received nearly $38 million in federal stimulus funds to make the homes of needy residents more energy-efficient. Eighteen months later, many are wondering why that weatherization aid never reached them. Karen Hoffman, 55, got a letter last June saying she had been approved for repairs at her mobile home in Cross Lanes. ‘No one has ever been here,’ Hoffman said. Peggy Coleman of Cedar Grove said a weatherization crew replaced her 33-year-old furnace late last year. The crew was supposed to return to install an air conditioner. ‘They just never came back,’ the 79-year-old widow said. Weatherization is meant to help cut the energy bills of low-income, disabled and elderly people. Crews can install insulation, seal ducts, and tune up or replace heating and cooling systems. The U.S. Department of Energy says families can save an average of $437 a year. The federal stimulus package pumped $5 billion into the program, but across the nation, states have failed to meet goals set when the stimulus was rolled out. They’ve blamed complex federal regulations and other challenges…”

For the poor, cellphones can offer lifeline, By Cecilia Kang, September 8, 2010, Washington Post: “For the world’s poorest, cellphone technology carries opportunity, aid groups say, as text messages and other mobile applications have created a new platform to reach the most remote farms and crowded urban slums of Africa, Asia and Latin America. The Grameen Foundation, a Washington-based group known for helping women with the smallest of business loans, has two dozen people in a technology lab here developing mobile Internet applications to help spread its microfinance model. It’s warning farmers in Uganda about banana crop rot through text messages and collecting data on spreadsheet applications on smartphones…”

• UN reveals global disparity in broadband access, By Jonathan Fildes, September 2, 2010, BBC News: “The Central African Republic is the most expensive place to get a fixed broadband connection, costing nearly 40 times the average monthly income there. Macao in China is the cheapest, costing 0.3% of the average monthly income. Niger becomes the most expensive place to access communication technologies, when landlines and mobiles are also taken into account. ‘Access to broadband in an affordable manner is our greatest challenge,’ Dr Hamadoun Toure, secretary general of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), told BBC News. The statistics were released ahead of the UN 2010 Millennium Development Goals Summit in New York on 19 September…”
• World leaders urged to act on poverty, By Danny Rose, September 1, 2010, Sydney Morning Herald: “The world’s aid and charity organisations have resolved to again urge governments to pump billions of dollars into the global fight against poverty. Any suggestion that they lacked the resources to do so was a ‘nonsense’, the final day of the United Nations DPI/NGO (Department of Public Information/Non-Governmental Organisation) Conference was told on Wednesday. A fraction of the world’s military spending would fund the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), said Professor Phil Batterham, convenor of the three-day conference in Melbourne. Around 1600 delegates represented more than 350 Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) at the conference…”
• Some have progress at their fingertips, but for others pain and poverty linger, August 28, 2010, The Age: “A street beggar’s dirty hand is drawn to his mouth in the universal sign for hunger. A busy foreigner bustles past and shrugs, indicating he does not have any local coins. ‘I take SMS,’ calls the beggar. This truly is the digital economy. While Melburnians struggle to work out how to use a myki card, Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, buzzes on a banking system based on short messages sent from mobile phones. Known as m-pesa - ‘pesa’ is Swahili for money - the mobile service works on a debit and credit principle. A vendor nominates a price, the buyer sends a text message to transfer funds between accounts. Should a person need hard currency, booths are dotted around the country so people can make withdrawals. The service is booming. Almost 12 million Kenyans used m-pesa in the past year, sending $A462 million in small transactions. Ready access to cheap mobile phones, even for the poor, gives the mobile money system many advantages over a traditional cash-based economy. Security is one thing - for Kenya’s many slum dwellers, finding a safe place to stash savings is tricky…”

Phone troubles hang up Texas welfare requests, By Robert T. Garrett, August 31, 2010, Dallas Morning News: “Even as Texas spends hundreds of millions to hire more workers to process welfare applications, it has skimped on replacing obsolete phone systems at more than 300 offices. At some, phones are more than two decades old and prone to ‘port failures’ in which callers hear a ring, but no line actually rings in the office, officials said. Also, many newly hired workers do not have voicemail. Experienced workers and supervisors do, but they complain of occasional malfunctions, which can make entire offices unreachable. The situation has added frustration and complications for Texans applying for benefits as the economy sags…”

Federal program buys cell phones for the poor, By Scott Canon, July 30, 2010, Kansas City Star: “A cell phone in every pocket. And for growing numbers, it’s free. ‘It’s a sign of the times,’ said Nicholas Eberstadt, a researcher at the conservative American Enterprise Institute and author of ‘The Poverty of ‘The Poverty Rate.” ‘When does a luxury become an absolute bare necessity?’ Roughly one in 10 American households qualifies for a direct phone subsidy. In a fast-growing number of states, including Missouri, that equates to a free cell phone. It is both news and history - the extension of longstanding telephone subsidies for the poor, and cell carriers taking advantage of virtually guaranteed profits. While cell companies see the federal Lifeline program as a way to scoop up hundreds of millions of dollars in business, the move has raised questions about the way Americans subsidize each other’s phone service. More than 2 million poor people have been given free handsets and prepaid cell service - albeit on the simplest of phones, often with barely an hour’s talk time per month - as wireless carriers scramble for a toehold with a new class of customers…”

Community Contacts helps low income residents save energy, income, By Heather Linder, July 23, 2010, Daily Herald: “Carbon monoxide was silently seeping from Samantha Behenna’s furnace and polluting her St. Charles home. She and her family were clueless until Community Contacts, in the process of making their house more energy efficient, discovered the dangerous leak. The nonprofit, Elgin-based organization replaced the furnace and removed the threat through the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). Community Contacts specializes in assisting low-income individuals and families from Kane and DeKalb counties in making their homes safer and more energy efficient with LIHEAP, the Illinois Home Weatherization Assistance Program (IHWAP) and the Housing Rehabilitation Program. The group helps keep residents from spending a bulk of their income on utilities…”

Fuel poverty shock for Sedgemoor, By David Hemming, July 21, 2010, The West County: “NEARLY a quarter of households in Sedgemoor are struggling to cope with the rising cost of their energy bills, according to Government experts. The Fuel Poverty Advisory Group has revealed 22% of homes in the district - or roughly 10,000 people - are struggling to pay their bills … and there are fears that figure could rise yet further. The advisory group warns energy bills could increase by a further 50% on top of the 125% rise over the last six years. Chairman Derek Lickorish said the cost of energy infrastructure schemes and measures to reduce greenhouse gas emission, while essential, would be passed onto customers. He added: “Energy prices are set to rise so the Government needs a clear strategy on how it is going to end fuel poverty…”

Green steps ‘hurting people in fuel poverty’, July 12, 2010, BBC News: “People in fuel poverty face being unfairly hit by the costs of investment in energy infrastructure and reducing greenhouse gases, a report says. Such spending may see energy bills rise by 50% - on top of 125% rises seen in the past six years - the government’s Fuel Poverty Advisory Group said. This was ‘regressive’ and would ‘disproportionately’ impact those people on low incomes, it warned. Energy firms should prioritise the fuel poor, the group added. The group also urged the government to guarantee the future of the Warm Front scheme, which offers grants to tackle fuel poverty - defined as spending over 10% of household income on energy bills…”

• Can mobile phones narrow the digital divide?, By Omar L. Gallaga, July 3, 2010, Austin American-Statesman: “Jared Esquivel has had his new cell phone, a white Nokia Nuron, for only a week. But it’s the fifth one he’s owned since he was 10 years old. Jared is 16. The Travis High School student uses the phone to text family members, check in constantly on Facebook and view World Cup scores on ESPN’s mobile website. His family’s T-Mobile account includes phones for his sister, mother, father and grandmother. Most of them are enabled for unlimited Web access and texting. When Jared and his 13-year-old sister both need to use the family’s aging computer for homework, their mother, Juanita Esquivel, sends one of them to the mobile Web. ‘One of them would be up until 2 in the morning because the other one was sitting there using their computer,’ Juanita said. ‘I eventually was like, ‘Just use your phone!” The country has been swept up into an intoxicating romance with cell phones, especially smart phones such as Apple ’s iPhone 4, with 1.7 million units sold in its first three days on the market. A global study by research firm Gartner Inc. suggests that by as soon as 2013, mobile devices will overtake personal computers as the most common way people access the Internet. But nowhere in the U.S. is the shift from desktop and laptop computers to cell phones making as much of an impact as in Latino households like Jared’s or in African American and low-income households, in which the cell phone is often the primary tool used to get online…”
• Pew study finds rapid increase in mobile Internet use by low-income Americans, By Matt Hamblen, July 9, 2010, Computerworld: “Wireless access to the Internet has long been seen as a potential economic bridge for disadvantaged groups in those regions of the world that lack a wired infrastructure. For example, in poorer countries like Haiti, where landlines are limited, three mobile service providers have moved to widely offer the ability for cell phone users to complete wireless banking and e-commerce transactions. Some observers note that low-income groups in the U.S. can also gain profound benefits from wireless access by using some key applications. This week, the Pew Research Center in Washington said that a survey of 2,252 adults over 18 in April and May found that low-income groups in the U.S. are now the fastest adopters mobile Web devices. The survey found that 46% of households earning less than $30,000 a year are wireless Internet users. That lowest income group surveyed was the fastest growing — up by 11 percentage points from 35% in April 2009…”

Widespread fraud found in utility program for poor, By Nathan Hurst, July 2, 2010, Detroit News: “More than $116 million was wasted in fraud and improper payments to people in seven states — including Michigan — who faked information on applications for a federal program created to help poor families pay for heating their homes, a Government Accountability Office report shows. In the worst cases, applicants using the Social Security numbers of dead people were given up to $1,100 each. Others received benefits while they were in prison, living in mansions, driving luxury cars or making well over the maximum income allowed by the program. All told, $5 billion was spent by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program in 2009, and GAO investigators found 9 percent of cases in seven states — Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio and Virginia — involved fraud. Those states distributed roughly one-third of the federal heating assistance dollars in 2009. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said she was ‘very disturbed’ by the report…”

State switching to online, call centers for welfare applications, By Nancy Hicks, July 2, 2010, Lincoln Journal Star: “Some Nebraskans will be unable to get the help they need under the state’s plan to use call centers and online applications rather than caseworkers and face-to-face interviews for welfare-related applications, according to testimony at a Friday public hearing. ‘The new system, which discourages or eliminates the possibility of meeting face to face with a live human caseworker, is immoral and shows indifference toward the needs of people with disabilities, indeed people with any needs,’ said Kathy Hoell, executive director of the Nebraska Statewide Independent Living Council. The state plans to set up four call centers to handle most applications for services like food stamps, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Medicaid, energy assistance and child care subsidies. Department of Health and Human Service leaders are also promoting online applications as a way to streamline the process…”

Feds wasted millions in utilities program for poor, By Kelli Kennedy (AP), July 1, 2010, Miami Herald: “A federal program designed to help impoverished families heat and cool their homes wasted more than $100 million paying the electric bills of thousands of applicants who were dead, in prison or living in million-dollar mansions, according to a government investigation. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services spent $5 billion through the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program in 2009, doling out money to states with little oversight of the program. Some states don’t verify applicants’ identifies or income. For example, the program helped pay the electric bill of a woman who lives in a $2 million home in a wealthy Chicago suburb and drives a Mercedes, according to the yet-to-be released report obtained by The Associated Press. The Government Accountability Office studied the program after a 2007 investigation by Pennsylvania’s state auditor found 429 applicants received more than $162,000 using the Social Security numbers of dead people. The GAO investigated Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, and Virginia, which represented about one-third of the program’s funding in 2009. The agency found improper payments in about 9 percent of households receiving benefits in those states, totaling $116 million. The report comes after a dramatic increase in the size of the assistance checks as fuel oil costs soared in 2008 and 2009…”

• California welfare cards can be used in many casino ATMs, By Jack Dolan, June 24, 2010, Los Angeles Times: “California welfare recipients are able to use state-issued debit cards to withdraw cash on gaming floors in more than half of the casinos in the state, a Los Angeles Times review of records found. The cards, provided by the Department of Social Services to help recipients feed and clothe their families, work in automated teller machines at 32 of 58 tribal casinos and 47 of 90 state-licensed poker rooms, the review found. State officials said Wednesday they were working to determine how much money had been withdrawn from casino ATMs by people using the welfare debit cards…”
• Confusion over use of welfare debit cards at casinos, By Clark Mason, June 29, 2010, Santa Rosa Press Democrat: “Several Indian casinos on the North Coast and a poker cardroom in Petaluma are listed among gambling venues where welfare recipients have used state-issued debit cards to withdraw cash. In the wake of a newspaper story that found California welfare recipients could use their cards in a majority of the 57 casinos in the state, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger moved to ensure the ATMs at the casinos no longer accept the cards. But a spokesman for the governor said Monday that it could be several weeks before the welfare cards are deactivated at the gambling establishments. ‘We said we need to prohibit these cards from being used in casinos,’ said Governor’s spokesman Aaron McLear. ‘They’re going through the process of reprogramming them now.’ Assemblyman Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, said it is ‘deeply disturbing’ that welfare recipients are using the debit cards to gamble. Casinos are ‘taking advantage of folks that are on welfare and allowing them to use welfare debit cards to gamble and lose at the tables and slots,’ said Huffman. ‘Already, people view casinos as preying on the poor. This only fuels the perception,’ he said. He also said it is upsetting that it was allowed to happen at all. ‘It clearly tells us we have some work to do and ought to take some simple, but firm steps right away to make sure it never happens again,’ he said. After last week’s publication of a Los Angeles Times story on the topic, state officials acknowledged welfare recipients used the debit cards to withdraw more than $1.8 million in taxpayer cash in casinos and card rooms between October 2009 and last month…”

Don’t ignore low-income spill victims, advocates urge BP, By Deborah Barfield Berry, June 26, 2010, USA Today: “Vicky Townley is waiting to hear whether BP will compensate her for tip income she says she’s lost because of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. ‘Things are so slow we’re basically living from paycheck to paycheck, which is not very much,’ said Townley, a bartender in Gulf Shores, Ala., who filed her lost-wages claim three weeks ago. Before the spill, she said, she earned $60 a day in tips during the summer months, which helped in the long slog to rebound from Hurricane Katrina in 2005. ‘Things were just starting to pick up,’ she said. ‘Then the recession, then the oil. What next?’ Gulf Coast groups representing low-income workers say they want to make sure BP’s claims process doesn’t overlook workers like Townley in the rush to compensate fishermen and other high-priority spill victims…”

After cold start, weatherization program heating up in California, By Peter Urban, June 22, 2010, Salinas Californian: “Although it ranks near the bottom in national completion rates, California expects to meet its September goal of weatherizing at least 12,945 homes to secure $92 million in additional federal stimulus funds. For its part, Monterey County already is within reach of its weatherization target for the same time frame. The U.S. Department of Energy slated $166 million for California to caulk windows, install weatherstripping and make other efficiencies to reduce electric bills for low-income families. A year ago, California received $74 million in stimulus funds for what the DOE then described as an ‘aggressive and innovative’ proposal to weatherize 43,400 low-income households within 33 months. The final $92 million is due this September if the state completes at least 30 percent of its overall goal…”

Advocates say poor need available free cell phones, By Alfred Lubrano, June 14, 2010, Philadelphia Inquirer: “Should the poor have cell phones? It’s a question that has engaged both ends of the political spectrum since 2004, when the conservative Heritage Foundation published a controversial paper saying the poor enjoy ‘high living standards’ and cited as proof that many have cell phones, among other things. In rebuttal, advocates for the poor have argued that cell phones are not luxuries but necessities, as basic to modern life as electricity. Complicating the debate these days is a new development: free cell phones for the poor and working poor distributed by a Miami wireless company. They’re paid for, in part, by charges on phone bills that the federal government allows carriers to levy. It’s a little-known collaboration between the federal government and phone carriers, devised by the Reagan administration 26 years ago…”

Weatherization program ramps up after slow start, By Christine Vestal, June 8, 2010, Stateline.org: “Of all the programs funded by the federal economic stimulus law, one of the most criticized has been the boost given to weatherizing homes. Taxpayer groups and critical members of Congress said the $4.7 billion set aside for installing insulation, plugging air leaks and putting in energy-efficient furnaces and air conditioning systems would result in wasteful spending. Other critics questioned whether tiny local authorities that do this sort of work could gear up to spend the avalanche of new funding in time to meet tight stimulus deadlines…”

Mobile banking closes poverty gap, By Jane Wakefield, May 28, 2010, BBC News: “Mobile banking has transformed the way people in the developing world transfer money and now it is poised to offer more sophisticated banking services which could make a real difference to people’s lives. Currently 2.7bn people living in the developing world do not have access to any sort of financial service. At the same time 1bn people throughout Africa, Latin America and Asia own a mobile phone. As a result, mobile money services are springing up all over the developing world. According to mobile industry group the GSMA there are now 65 mobile money systems operating around the globe, with a further 82 about to be launched. Most offer basic services such as money transfers, which are incredibly important for migrant workers who need to send cash back to their families. M-Pesa in Kenya is perhaps the most famous of these and it has attracted 9.4 million Kenyans in just under three years. Now it is ready to move to the next stage. M-Pesa, has recently partnered with Kenya’s Equity Bank to offer subscribers a savings account, called M-Kesho…”

Cellphones a tool in India’s fight against corruption, By Rick Westhead, May 24, 2010, Toronto Star: “In many remote corners of the developing world, cellphones have become a valuable tool to battle poverty. Farmers use them to get timely weather forecasts and tips about fertilizers. And when their fields are harvested, they rely on contacts in nearby markets to send SMS messages that help them decide where to take their produce for the best prices, cutting out greedy middlemen. Now, government officials in the central Indian state of Bihar hope the cellphone can tackle a new challenge: battling government corruption. In early 2009, officials with Bihar’s ministry of health told an international development agency of their concern that frontline health-care workers might bolt their jobs. Bihar has 72,000 accredited social health activists - volunteers who are paid commissions for ensuring children are born in hospitals and properly vaccinated. But the activists typically aren’t paid for months and, even then, only get a portion of their earnings because local managers demand kickbacks of as much as 40 per cent in exchange for their paycheques…”

Indiana, IBM trade suits over welfare contract, Associated Press, May 13, 2010, Wall Street Journal: “Indiana and its former partner in welfare privatization, International Business Machines Corp., sued each other Thursday over the technology giant’s canceled 10-year, $1.37 billion contract to automate the state’s intake for food stamps, Medicaid and other benefits. Both lawsuits were filed in Marion County courts in Indianapolis. In its lawsuit, the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration is seeking to recover the $437.6 million it paid IBM through Jan. 31, plus the costs of any third-party lawsuits, federal penalties, and state employee overtime that it incurs as a result of its association with the Armonk, N.Y., company. The state is seeking triple damages, or more than $1.3 billion, as it is entitled to do under state law. It accused IBM of intentionally denying benefits to clients to make its performance appear better and giving the state agency false and misleading information…”

Weatherization program finally takes off, By Tracy Idell Hamilton, May 12, 2010, San Antonio Express-News: “Patricia Teran remembers the moment she realized just how well the new insulation in her home was working. ‘I went to let my dog out in the middle of the night, and when I opened the door, I realized it was really cold out there,’ she said. ‘It was nice and warm in my house, and my heater wasn’t even on.’ Teran, 62, is one of the first local beneficiaries of the Obama administration’s $5 billion weatherization program, which aims to help low-income residents to seal up their homes, lower bills and save energy. It also is supposed to create thousands of jobs in the nascent ‘green energy’ industry. The program, a centerpiece of the administration’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, has faced rising criticism as more than a year of bureaucratic delays saw only a fraction of homes completed and few jobs created. But in Texas, at least, the program finally is taking off…”

• Indiana ‘hybrid’ welfare program set to expand, By Niki Kelly, May 11, 2010, Fort Wayne Journal Gazette: “The Family and Social Services Administration announced Tuesday the next region for its new ‘hybrid’ welfare eligibility system is an 11-county area that includes Vigo, Parke and Monroe counties. The expansion is dependent on federal approval. FSSA on Monday released statistics showing that adding more local welfare workers in 10 southwestern Indiana counties under a pilot hybrid system has cut the problems that clients have had with Indiana’s privatized, automated benefits system…”
• Officials: Changes in welfare cut complaints, By Mary Beth Schneider, May 11, 2010, Indianapolis Star: “Armed with evidence that the changes made to welfare delivery in a 10-county pilot project are working, the state will announce today whether it will expand the program to more areas of Indiana. Gov. Mitch Daniels pulled the plug on a $1.34 billion IBM contract for a centralized welfare intake system in October. The Family and Social Services Administration replaced it with a hybrid program, combining modernization and computerization of records with the face-to-face contact between caseworkers and clients that was the hallmark of past welfare systems…”

• Legislation would allow food stamps to be used at farmer’s markets, By Stephen Rickerl, April 26, 2010, The Southern: “Proposed legislation seeks to make locally grown fresh produce and meats available to food stamp recipients. House Bill 4756 introduced by state Rep. LaShawn Ford, D-Chicago, would create the Farmer’s Market Technology Improvement Act, which would create a fund to assist vendors at USDA approved farmer’s markets in purchasing equipment needed to process Electronic Debit Transfers. The equipment is necessary to process electronic debits because recipients receive their food assistance in the form of a LINK card, which is used to receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits. The purpose of the proposed legislation is to increase access to fresh foods by SNAP recipients…”
• Farmers markets run by city of Chicago will start accepting food stamp cards, By Monica Eng, April 19, 2010, Chicago Tribune: “If you want to buy a meal of doughnuts, chips and soda with food stamp benefits, you’ll have no problem in Chicago. But if you want to use them for fresh fruits and vegetables at a farmers market, it’s been impossible. That’s about to change. In a pilot program announced Monday by the Mayor’s Office of Special Events, five city-run farmers markets - Lincoln Square, South Shore Bank, Daley Plaza, Division Street and Beverly - will accept LINK cards, Illinois’ debit cards for food stamp purchases…”
• Farmers market to take food stamps, By Anna Webb, April 19, 2010, Idaho Statesman: “A certain cliche hounds farmers markets: that they serve an affluent clientele willing to pay high prices for arugula and artisanal cheeses. But last year, growers at one Capital City booth - Global Gardens, a community garden project run by the Idaho Office for Refugees - started quietly undermining that idea by accepting food stamps at their produce booth. The idea caught on, and this year most produce booths at the market will be food stamp accessible, said Katie Painter, refugee agriculture coordinator with the agency. Though the market opens Saturday, the EBT, or ‘electronic benefits transfer’ machines, will be up and running June 5, just as harvest season is picking up. The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare staff has actively recruited Idaho farmers markets to accept food stamps. Seven markets across Idaho have tentatively signed on, said Health and Welfare spokeswoman Emily Simnitt. A record number of Idahoans are using food stamps - 180,000 in the most recent count, an increase of 106 percent in the last two years…”

Texas slow to spend stimulus money on weatherizing homes of poor, elderly, By Randy Lee Loftis, March 31, 2010, Dallas Morning News: “Winter has passed, but the state’s pace of spending federal stimulus money to weatherize poor Texans’ homes is just starting to heat up. Under the 2009 federal stimulus bill, Texas received $327 million from the Department of Energy to help armor 33,908 homes of low-income or elderly people against the cold and heat. Texas must spend the money by March 2012 or lose it. A review in December found that in the first four months, the state had spent only $1.8 million and completed work on just seven homes. At a state House committee hearing Tuesday at Dallas City Hall, Texas officials presented numbers showing progress. Work has been finished on an estimated 2,450 homes or apartments and planning has been started on 2,200 more. About $13 million has been spent…”

Study: Third of Americans use library computers, By Donna Gordon Blankinship (AP), March 25, 2010, Lincoln Journal Star: “A third of Americans 14 and older _ about 77 million people _ use public library computers to look for jobs, connect with friends, do their homework and improve their lives, according to a new study released Thursday. It confirms what public libraries have been saying as they compete for public dollars to expand their services and high-speed Internet access: library use by the general public is widespread and not just among poor people. But researchers found that those living below the federal poverty line _ families of four with a household income of $22,000 or less _ had the highest use of library computers. Among those households, 44 percent reported using public library computers and Internet access during the past year…”

Broken fixes: Inspectors find shoddy work in weatherization program, By Doug Caruso, March 14, 2010, Columbus Dispatch: “When low-income Ohioans receive help to improve their insulation and furnace, the quality of the work - including the potential for deadly mistakes - appears to depend on where they live. State records show that 12 of the 58 nonprofit agencies in Ohio’s Home Weatherization Assistance Program passed all of their state inspections in the past three years. That includes two of the agencies that serve Franklin County: the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission and Ground Level Solutions. But 20 other agencies failed more than half of their state inspections, and five of those failed all of them. And that’s just among the houses that were inspected. Federal rules call for examining the work in one of every 20 houses. Overall, nearly 40 percent of the houses that state inspectors checked failed…”

Paperwork maze endangering Colorado Medicaid patients, By Allison Sherry, March 3, 2010, Denver Post: “As Denver County and state attorney general investigators probe why an asthmatic boy on Medicaid couldn’t get his medication and died, advocates say eligibility glitches are a daily headache causing life-threatening problems for the poor. Since the recession drove thousands more people to the public safety net, advocacy lawyers have received an increasing number of calls from people unable to get health care or prescription drugs - even though they carry Medicaid or Child Health Plan Plus eligibility cards. ‘I deal with this every day. There is some problem, someone I have to call, and it hurts care,’ said Michelle Tafoya, an intake worker at Rose Pediatrics and herself a victim of a computer glitch. When Tafoya went to get antidepressants for her oldest son earlier this year, the system said he had no pharmacy benefits - even though he was enrolled in Child’s Health Plan Plus, or CHP. Because Tafoya battles with Medicaid discrepancies for a living, she asked the pharmacy for a loan on the drugs and started calling CHP contractors every day…”

• More people apply for energy assistance to help with heating, By Julie Schmit, March 1, 2010, USA Today: “A record number of U.S. households are applying for help to pay home heating bills with 17 states fielding application requests that are up more than 20% from last year, the National Energy Assistance Directors’ Association says. Almost 9 million U.S. households are expected to need help paying winter energy bills. That’s up 15% from the record-setting 7.7 million last year, the association says. Next year may be even worse, when more than 10 million households are likely to need help, given continued weakness in the economy and the swelling ranks of the longer-term unemployed, says Mark Wolfe, the association’s executive director…”
• Requests for heat aid rise, By Aaron Nathans, March 2, 2010, News Journal: “Applications for heating assistance in Delaware are up 10 percent over last year, an increase that mirrors the record number of U.S. households applying for help to pay home heating bills. Seventeen states say requests are up more than 20 percent from last year, the National Energy Assistance Directors’ Association said. Almost 9 million U.S. households are expected to need help paying winter energy bills. That’s up 15 percent from the record-setting 7.7 million last year, the association said. Delaware had 16,446 applicants through the end of February, said Leslie Lee, management analyst for the Delaware Division of State Service Centers…”

Applications for help on heat bills rise by 15%, By Erik Eckholm, February 22, 2010, New York Times: “The number of households applying for home heating assistance has climbed to record levels for the third straight year, rising by 15 percent to a projected 8.8 million this winter, state energy officials said Monday. This compares with almost 7.7 million recipients last year and 5.7 million in 2008. Average heating costs have declined slightly since 2009, and the increase in applications reflects, in part, the mounting troubles of those suffering prolonged unemployment, including many people who had not sought the aid in the past, said Mark Wolfe, director of the National Energy Assistance Directors’ Association, which represents state aid officials in Washington…”

• More people struggling to stay warm, taxing agencies, By Steve Neavling, February 2, 2010, Detroit Free Press: “Working just eight hours a week, Cynthia Caruthers can barely afford to keep her heat on for a few hours a day. ‘I’ve never had anything like this happen to me,’ said Caruthers, 42, who lives with her 14-year-old son in Detroit and can’t find a better job. ‘It’s scary.’ Caruthers is among an increasing number of metro Detroiters at risk of losing heat this winter because they either can’t find work or are struggling with small paychecks. Compared with last year, the problem this winter is particularly brutal: The number of unemployed residents rose 33%. State and local agencies are responding with extra money and resources to help down-on-their-luck families pay their utility bills, but officials fear it won’t be enough…”
• Utilities ordered to ease shutoffs, By Ryan Carter, February 4, 2010, San Gabriel Valley Tribune: “The California Public Utilities Commission on Thursday required utility companies to curb a trend toward increased power shut-offs at a time when many customers are having a tough time paying the bills. Commissioners unanimously required Rosemead-based Southern California Edison, Pacific Gas & Electric, San Diego Gas & Electric and Southern California Gas Co. to inform customers with past-due bills - but who can keep current on their current payments - that they have three months to arrange a plan to pay the utility. That could be extended to 12 months depending on a customer’s situation, Commissioner Michael Peevey said. To further ease the payment burden, any disconnected customer who has established credit with a utility would not be required to pay reconnection fees…”

Long delays in Colorado food aid may spur another lawsuit, By Allison Sherry, February 1, 2010, Denver Post: “Two years after the state promised to solve the long delays in its food- stamp and Medicaid programs, lawyers say there has not been enough improvement and are weighing whether to take the state back to court. Colorado is out of compliance with a legal settlement reached in 2007 that requires food stamps and Medicaid to be delivered within federal time frames, typically 30 days after an application is filed for food stamps and 45 days for Medicaid. Thousands of Coloradans are waiting beyond that. Roughly 19 percent of new food- stamp applications were delayed statewide in October. For Medicaid, 18 percent of new applicants didn’t get timely benefits that month, according to lawyers who get the data from the state as part of the 2007 settlement…”

• Indiana agency begins hybrid welfare plan rollout, By Ken Kusmer (AP), January 26, 2010, Fort Wayne Journal Gazette: “Indiana’s human services agency said Tuesday the state’s third try at effectively enrolling and keeping people on food stamps and other welfare benefits has begun rolling out, but one affected caretaker said the frustrations keep mounting. The Family and Social Services Administration said it has begun implementing what it’s calling a hybrid welfare intake system, involving caseworkers and some automation, in 10 southwestern Indiana counties. It follows the agency’s aborted bid to turn over highly automated welfare intake to private vendors - a plan designed to replace an outdated, paper-based casework system - that remains in 33 counties…”
• Indiana agency begins hybrid welfare plan rollout, By Eric Bradner, January 26, 2010, Evansville Courier and Press: “The Indiana Family and Social Services Administration rolled out its pilot ‘hybrid’ system for processing welfare applications in a swath of 10 Southwestern Indiana counties on Tuesday. The rollout means the state’s human services agency now has three ways of handling applications for Medicaid, food stamps and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families operating simultaneously. The hybrid pilot is now in place in Daviess, Dubois, Gibson, Knox, Perry, Pike, Posey, Spencer, Warrick and Vanderburgh counties. The recently abandoned ‘modernization’ effort, which severely restricted face-to-face interaction with agency workers and instead had those seeking benefits apply online or by phone, remains in 49 counties.

Gates Foundation seeks to spur savings by the poor, By Steve Lohr, January 13, 2010, New York Times: “For decades, the microfinance industry has really been about microcredit - making tiny loans to shoestring entrepreneurs in poor countries. Taking deposits and creating savings accounts for the poor has gotten short shrift. The reasons were straightforward: funding for loans often came from international donors, and collecting small deposits seemed to be an inefficient headache for the microfinance bankers. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is hoping to change that with $38 million in grants announced on Wednesday for 18 microfinance institutions. The goal is to spur the building of efficient models and systems for small savings accounts. The foundation hopes to reach 11 million people across a dozen nations in Africa, Asia and Latin America over the next five years…”

Stalled upgrade delays unemployment checks, By Tom Abate, January 19, 2010, San Francisco Chronicle: “At a time when nearly 800,000 jobless Californians depend on timely unemployment checks, the state has been sitting on more than $50 million in federal funds set aside in 2003 to upgrade antiquated computer and call center systems designed to make the Employment Development Department more responsive. State officials acknowledge that this delay helps explain why it took the department five weeks last year to resume payments to Californians who had exhausted their benefits before Congress authorized a payment extension in November. Ironically, the department already has begun to spend some of the $60 million in federal funds that it received just last spring to modernize other unrelated portions of the ’70s-era software that runs the state’s unemployment systems…”

Hybrid welfare system to roll out, By Ken Kusmer (AP), January 19, 2010, Fort Wayne Journal Gazette: “Indiana’s human services agency is expected to roll out its hybrid welfare intake program, aimed at correcting problems that arose when it tried to privatize the system, in 10 southwestern counties next week. The Family and Social Services Administration had said that it would roll out the hybrid system in the counties around Evansville in January, and last week spokesman Marcus Barlow said the change probably would occur during the last week of the month. Documents obtained by The Journal Gazette in December indicated Vanderburgh County - an early participant in privatization in 2007 and a squeaky wheel in bringing problems to light - was being considered as the first area to launch the new system. Under the hybrid system, which follows the state’s aborted effort to turn welfare intake over to private vendors, many state and private caseworkers will shift from call centers into local offices to give people more personal contact with those making decisions about their food stamps, Medicaid and other benefits…”

• Poorer pupils to be given free laptops, January 11, 2010, BBC News: “A scheme to give free laptops to pupils from poor backgrounds is being rolled out to 270,000 families in England. The £300m Home Access scheme, first announced by Prime Minister Gordon Brown in 2008, has been piloted in two local areas. It will allow some of the most in need children, those in care and from the poorest homes, to apply for a grant for a free laptop and broadband connection. It aims to help bridge the achievement gap between rich and poor pupils…”
• Free laptops with broadband to be provided to 250,000 low-income households, January 11, 2010, Telegraph: “The Prime Minister said the £300 million project would see every family in the country linked to their children’s schools to access progress reports on attainment, behaviour and other needs. As well as helping pupils with homework, trials of the scheme had also proved invaluable to single parents with finding work and keeping in touch with friends, Mr Brown said. He hailed the national rollout of the scheme in a speech to education ministers and professionals from around the world meeting at a forum in London…”

• Energy aid requests at record high, By Ruth Longoria Kingsland, December 30, 2009, Peoria Journal Star: “The number of low-income people needing energy assistance reached record highs in 2009, for the second year in a row, according to the National Energy Assistance Directors Association. About 6.1 million people required help with heating and cooling bills in 2008, and 8.3 million received help in 2009. In Illinois, the numbers also saw a big increase. Households helped with heating costs by the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program went from 319,828 in 2008 to 415,669 in 2009. Add in the cooling increase from 56,080 in 2008 to 63,746 in 2009 and you have an overall heating and cooling increase of 27.5 percent, or 103,507 more households requiring assistance, the NEADA data shows…”
• More people seek help with heating bills, By Erik Ortiz, January 6, 2010, Press of Atlantic City: “While temperatures eclipsed 30 degrees Fahrenheit on Tuesday, Robert Seligman relaxed in his Hammonton home with the thermostat at a pleasant 74. But an incessant string of chilly days and chillier nights had him concerned about whether he can pay his heating oil bill through the winter. ‘I’m 73. I got to live as comfortable as possible,’ said Seligman, wearing a flannel shirt on top of a sweater and T-shirt. Seligman is one of hundreds of thousands of New Jersey residents who rely on grants each year to help cover their energy bills. But with demand expected to surpass that of a year ago - and only so much funding available - more people could face the threat of a winter without any heat…”

• 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…”