from The AdvocateLawmaker: Issue affects everyone * By SARAH CHACKOThe state could be required to reduce child poverty by 50 percent under a bill easily approved by a Senate committee Wednesday.Senate Bill 660, sponsored by Sen. Ben Nevers, D-Bogalusa, would create the Child Poverty Prevention Council of Louisiana. Its sole purpose would be to pursue programs to reduce child poverty in the state by 50 percent over the next 10 years.How much it would cost to reach the goal was not discussed.Nevers said it is time for the state — among the worst in the nation when it comes to child poverty — to do something about the problem, which is affecting children’s performance in school and costing the state money in the long run.“I don’t know of any issue that’s more dire than the...
from The AdvocateFiscal realities make it tough to break poverty cycle * By PATRICK COURREGESLiving poor is not the same as living cheap. People living in — or near — poverty and the people and agencies who work with them say that the add-on costs of poverty take a brutal toll on individuals and families who are just hoping to break even.Breaking even is a growing concern throughout Louisiana and the United States as high-and-rising gasoline prices continue and people at all income levels brace for an economic downturn.Higher fuel prices have driven up prices for other staple goods and services, and families are also dealing with increases in health and property insurance, as well as more-expensive housing.The increased cost of living for everyone adds particularly to the strain on...
from The Advocate * By JOE GYAN JR.The Louisiana Food Bank Association and its five regional food banks, including the Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank, are preparing to ask state lawmakers for $15 million to fight an “urgent’’ problem exacerbated by hurricanes Katrina and Rita: hunger.The Second Harvest Food Bank of Greater New Orleans and Acadiana is experiencing an 80 percent increase in the need for food in the 23 southern Louisiana parishes it serves. The Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank is seeing a 65 percent rise in need in the 11 parishes it covers.“Many of these citizens represent the new face of hunger in Louisiana and are evacuees who may be displaced here permanently or for years to come,’’ said Michael Manning, president and chief executive officer of the Baton Rouge...
from 2 The Advocate Ghanian tells BR groups how food program rescued him * By MARK H. HUNTERIn his remote village in Ghana, Africa, Awiapo likely faced a similar fate if not for a Catholic Relief Services program that provided snacks and lunches at a nearby school, he said.“I wouldn’t be here today,” concludes Awiapo, a CRS senior program officer in his home country and a proud father of three, well-fed children.He is on a nine-state U.S. tour during the Lenten season thanking American Catholics for their participation in Operation Rice Bowl.He came to Baton Rouge last week, speaking to more than 200 youths and adults at St. Paul the Apostle Activity Center and another 200 students at Catholic High School. The Catholic High students pledged to raise $10,000.Operation Rice Bowl,...
from KPIXAs part of a demonstration of the extreme poverty many victims of Hurricane Katrina still face, a FEMA trailer was to be displayed on the campus of San Jose State University. But those plans have been canceled after the trailer was involved in an accident while in transit to San Jose.Some students at the university were hoping the installation would reminded their peers of the poverty New Orleans residents continue to struggle with.The trailer was the same type of unit that federal employees have been banned from entering due to toxic levels of formaldehyde. Despite the health hazard, some 150,000 Katrina victims are still living in the structures.The situation is unacceptable, even discounting the toxins, according to Rashell Jackson with the Gulf Coast Civil Response Team."They...
from The Daily AdvertiserPoverty affects everyone, but too few have stepped up to the plate in Louisiana to do anything about it.That's according to Don Cravins Sr., Opelousas mayor and former District 24 state senator. Cravins is one of several speakers scheduled to address the Poverty: Are You Aware? workshop, presented Saturday by the Lafayette Roman Catholic Diocese Justice & Peace Office.The workshop will be held in Fuselier Auditorium inside Immaculata Center, the diocese's central office complex on Carmel Drive. Admission is free and open to the public.Panel discussions throughout the day will focus on the key areas of education, hunger, housing and community health care. Cravins, scheduled to speak later in the day, will focus on "The Challenge for Each of Us.""It's a collective...
from The Daily WorldBy William Johnson St. Landry Parish is the poorest rural parish in the nation. The newly formed St. Landry Parish Solutions to Poverty group wants to change that."That is my driving force," Chairperson Anita Phillips said of that disturbing statistic. "I've lived here 30 years. Something has to give."Her committee, currently made up primarily of representatives of local public housing, health care providers, educators and others already involved in the fight against poverty, is all about looking for solutions.One of those solutions is expanding the current committee. Phillips invited everyone interested in the fight to come out and get involved."Anyone who is interested; they are the ones who know what is needed," Phillips said.With this being an election year,...
from The Times PicayuneReport: Subsidized housing not spread outBy Bruce EgglerPost-Katrina housing policies at the state level are reconcentrating subsidized housing, and therefore poverty, in Orleans Parish instead of trying to distribute it across the metropolitan area, according to a recent report by the private, nonpartisan Bureau of Governmental Research."For decades, experts in urban policy have recognized the ultimate futility of dealing with poverty and affordable housing issues within the confines of the core city," the report says.Instead, it says, experts have advocated spreading housing for poor people throughout a metropolitan area "to provide greater opportunities and quality of life to low-income households, to connect housing strategy and job opportunities, and to create...
from WBRZTo combat poverty throughout the vast 70802 ZIP code area, the Christian Outreach Center is operating on a higher level with expanded space and services in a new location.“We offer life skills and new opportunities for the poor that we were unable to offer in the past,” said the Rev. Chris Andrews, pastor of First United Methodist Church and chairman of the center’s 10-member board of directors. “It’s a hands-up rather than a handout approach.”The 15-year-old joint ministry formerly known as the Downtown Christian Outreach Center continues to be supported by downtown churches: St. Joseph Cathedral, First Baptist, First United Methodist, First Presbyterian and St. James Episcopal as well as St. Agnes Catholic, which joined the efforts two years ago.However, the center...