from the New York Times This article explores the effect that rising food prices are having on school lunches. School officials point out that what kids are getting for a dollar or two in the cafeteria would cost 6 to 7 dollars at a restaurant. - KaleBy WINNIE HUGas pumps, grocery stores, and now school cafeterias.Prices on some school lunch lines are going up this fall as school officials, like many others, struggle to pay higher prices and delivery fees for staples like bread, milk, fresh fruit and vegetables. The price increases, generally about 25 cents a meal, come as school districts in New York and across the country try to eke more out of already tight budgets, with some switching to four-day schedules to reduce utility and busing costs, and others asking more of their students...
from the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle The state government in New York cut funds to a children's poverty fighter. The organization called the Rochester Surround Care Community Corp. will see it's budget slashed by 2 million dollars. - Kaleby David AndreattaThe significance of the reduction is difficult to overstate for the fledgling social services organization, which has faced a string of setbacks and false starts in launching its grand vision to revitalize the impoverished northeast section of the city.As of last week, the organization had received just $700,000 of its original state Department of Education grant but had committed to disburse over $1.1 million to local nonprofit agencies, according to financial records examined by the Democrat and Chronicle.The agency is designed...
from the Buffalo NewsHere is another story on the Brookings Institution report that is focused on New York StateBy, Jonathan EpsteinA new study by the liberal-leaning Brookings Institution shows that the concentration of low-income working families in high-poverty areas is significantly higher in Rochester than in the Buffalo-Niagara Falls area.According to the Brookings report, to be released today, about 21 percent of Rochester's low-income working families lived in ZIP codes where at least 40 percent of all taxpayers get the federal Earned Income Tax Credit. Low-income families were defined as those who receive the EITC.In fact, Rochester had the eighth-highest concentration of poverty in the country, among the 58 largest cities studied by Brookings. And it had the fourth-highest...
from MPN Now Women in New York State are more likely to live in poverty then women nationwide. This story profiles an organization that help women in New York. - KaleBy Julie SherwoodWomen in the state fare worse economically than they did in 1989, according to a report by a New York City-based philanthropic organization that helps women overcome poverty.In addition, women in the state are more likely to live in poverty than their national counterparts, the report notes, with 15.2 percent living in poverty here compared with 12.7 percent nationwide.The report was compiled by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, a nonprofit organization that researches policy issues of importance to women.“We are deeply troubled by the growing gap between the rich and poor in our state,” said...
from The Watertown Daily Times Summer time is when kids are out of school, and they have time to taketrips and lend a helping hand. This one is for building houses in Mexico. - KaleMEXICO MISSION: Local teenagers brave variety of challenges to build houses for the poorBy GABRIELLE HOVENDONThe 10 adults and 34 teenagers who signed up for the fifth annual Watertown First Presbyterian Church Mexico Mission Trip found themselves faced with poverty and tough conditions when they arrived in Tijuana, Mexico, on July 1.The group, led by the church's associate pastor, the Rev. Matthew D. Schultz, partnered with a San-Diego based organization called Amor Ministries to build three houses for Mexican families.The ministry was founded in 1980 and has built more than 12,000 homes in poverty-stricken...
from the Troy Record By: Tom Caprood WATERFORD - Visitors to the Waterford Harbor Farmers Market Sunday were greeted by the addition of a new Ballston Spa vendor in honor of the market's focus on the many benefits of fair trade.Mango Tree Imports at 2124 Route 50 in Ballston Spa was represented by the shop's owner, Kim Anderson, who was on hand to sell some of her store's wares, as well as answer any questions about the Fair Trade Federation that people had."Fair trade is basically an attempt at poverty alleviation in the developing world through sustainable business practices rather than just through charity," said Anderson, who noted that her shop was one of roughly 300 nationwide members of the Fair Trade Federation.Anderson explained that her shop offers items from over 55 countries...
from The Albany Time Union Anti-violence advocates say summer programs fail to serve poor children By TIM O'BRIEN, Staff writerALBANY -- Young people in the city's poorest neighborhoods are cheated out of access to summer programs that would get them away from streets plagued by violence, a group of church, civic and governmental leaders said Monday.They said most of these seasonal recreation and educational activities are concentrated outside the neighborhoods where they are most needed.The Inner City Youth and Family Coalition formed was last summer after the murder of 15-year-old Shahied Oliver in Arbor Hill. Its efforts gained renewed emphasis after 10-year-old Kathina Thomas was killed last month by a stray bullet outside her home in West Hill. On Monday, the group urged the city...
from Mid Hudson News KINGSTON – It is summer and the humidity may be an annoyance. Or thoughts center for some on a vacation.But winter already has a lot of people thinking about the cost of survival since fuel oil has nearly doubled since last year and the minimum fill-up may approach more than $1,000 for 250 gallons of fuel oil.“I have greater fear for the coming winter than I have ever had for the people of Ulster County,” said Michael Berg, the executive director of the Family of Woodstock.He was one of the featured speakers during a panel discussion on poverty in Kingston and Ulster County at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation.Berg sat on the panel with Rev. Darlene Kelley, of the Clinton Avenue United Methodist Church, which runs a soup kitchen in midtown Kingston, and...
from Lower Hudson dot com Kevin ZawackiOSSINING - When asked on a college application what he felt strongly about, Ossining High School senior Omar Herrera thought of some of the people struggling to live and get by in one of the wealthiest places in America."The issue of poverty leapt to mind," explained Herrera. "Many don't realize that, according to the Westchester Food Bank, an estimated 200,000 people are hungry in Westchester County."Herrera, who is working as summer intern for state Assemblywoman Sandy Galef, D-Ossining, had those thoughts in mind when he decided to organize a community forum on poverty. He promoted the Wednesday night event by sending fliers home to every parent in the Ossining public schools, putting up posters throughout the village and speaking about it the...
from The New York Times By RACHEL L. SWARNSLITTLE ROCK, Ark. — For years, state welfare offices like the one alongside Interstate 30 have drawn the unemployed. But these days, the red-brick building here is also attracting poor, working parents with an unexpected offer: $204 a month in cash.Shelly Thomas, a stockroom clerk and single mother, is using her windfall from the State of Arkansas to tune up the old Chevrolet she drives to work. Talia Greenwood, a day care worker with four children, spends the money on gas, diapers and baby formula.The women are pioneers in an emerging social experiment as states across the country try to go beyond simply moving people off welfare. Over the last two years, officials in Arkansas and at least a dozen other states have announced plans to extend...
from MSNBCBy CAROLYN THOMPSONBUFFALO, N.Y. - Maria Whyte's two-day experiment living at the poverty level left her with debt, a parking ticket and probably a few gray hairs."I was so stressed out!" the Erie County legislator said Thursday as she joined a call for the city to address its census ranking as the nation's second-poorest big city.Whyte and other community leaders spent the past few days trying to make ends meet on $9.25 a day. If they factored in the daily cost of a car, health care, cell phone and cable television, they were in the hole before breakfast.It was an exercise in solidarity, organizers said, for the 29.9 percent of Buffalo residents the U.S. Census Bureau says are living in poverty — well over the 13.3 percent national rate. The federal poverty guideline is an...
from The Ithaca JournalThere is no yellow brick road on the path out of poverty.Anyone who read The Journal's yearlong series about poverty in Tompkins County could appreciate how hard it is for folks to climb out of the financial basement and up the ladder to make ends meet above the federal government's poverty threshold, $21,200 (“Finding a path out of poverty,” May 3).For all the success stories, such as Jessica Brown, 26, who is no longer dependent on social services as she was nine years ago, there are many others who are struggling.As with many issues confronting our nation, the truth in helping people find a way to get financial stability in their lives lies somewhere in the middle of diametrically opposite opinions. But while partisans argue their cases in the court of...
from the New York Daily NewsBY ADAM NICHOLSQueens City Councilman Eric Gioia shops at Sunnyside market to see what week's worth of food stamps will buy. (Hint: Not as much as last year.) DelMundo for NewsQueens City Councilman Eric Gioia shops at Sunnyside market to see what week's worth of food stamps will buy. (Hint: Not as much as last year.)Rocketing food prices are slimming down the Eric Gioia poverty diet.The Democratic city councilman from Queens struggled to survive last year when he spent a week living on $28 - the average food stamp allowance for a single recipient.This year, the same allowance would leave him starving."Last year, I lasted five days and I was out of food," he said. "I had to go to a food pantry to get through the week."This year, I'd last three days."With last...
from the Ithaca Journal Success attributed to a range of factors, from family to pure luckBy Krisy GashlerAt 17, Jessica Brown was living in a subsidized efficiency apartment above a liquor store in Trumansburg with her newborn baby.Now 26, she is out of poverty, no longer dependent on social services and living with her daughter and fiancé in their own home in Ithaca.Brown doesn't call herself a success story, and she doesn't credit her escape from poverty to the five semesters she spent at Tompkins Cortland Community College, the 45 hours a week she works or the friends who supported her through bad times.It's all luck, she says, and many people aren't so lucky.While Brown credits luck, other Tompkins County residents who have faced poverty and escaped say the path out for them was...
from NewsdayBY RHODA AMONrhoda.amon@newsday.com11:20 AM EDT, April 30, 2008For the one in five Long Islanders trapped in poverty, life could get better with some concerted political action by the religious community, faith leaders say.The call to a political agenda came at a conference of 225 faith leaders Monday at the Adelphi University School of Social Work in Garden City. That does not mean partisan politics, said Richard Koubek of Catholic Charities, a coordinator of the conference and a founder of MICAH, an interfaith coalition to end poverty and hunger on Long Island."We're asking the faith community to go beyond feeding and clothing the poor and to help get at the root causes of poverty," Koubek said.Some of the causes were identified at workshops on segregation, underfunding of...
from NewsdayBY ELLEN YANellen.yan@newsday.com9:23 PM EDT, March 30, 2008These days, food pantries aren't just for the jobless or homeless.Tapping such free resources has turned into a survival tactic for some working members of the middle class as they struggle with an economy that has put them in a bind.A father of three, Bill makes more than $70,000 a year. But after his mortgage rate reset in October, hiking his payments from $3,300 to $4,300, he began going to his church's food pantry."I sat here at home and argued with my wife about who's going," said Bill, a Nassau County employee who asked not to be identified further. "I tried to go to work that day. ... It's very embarrassing."Here I'm making a decent salary. I'm a professional, but I can't even feed my kids."More and more...
from Capital News 9Sorry for the ad that proceeds this story... - Kale...
from the New York SunBy E.B. SOLOMONTAmid a "historic" increase in statewide Medicaid enrollment, nearly a third of New York City residents are now on the state's rolls, with 1 million joining between 2000 and 2005.A report published yesterday by the United Hospital Fund documents a 55% increase in statewide Medicaid enrollment, which reached 4.3 million in 2005, up from 2.8 million five years earlier. New York City residents account for 66% of the state's Medicaid program; 2.8 million were enrolled in the program in 2005, up from 1.8 million in 2000."It was definitely a major increase," the report's author, Michael Birnbaum, a senior health policy analyst at the United Hospital Fund, said. "Expanding eligibility among adults was one major reason."Medicaid is the state health benefit...
from the Times Herald RecordWARWICK — From noon March 7 until 6 p.m. March 8, 32 youths and four adults participated in the 30-Hour Famine at Warwick United Methodist Church.The event is organized by World Vision, a Christian humanitarian organization that works with children, families and their communities to tackle the causes of poverty and injustice. They created the 30-Hour Famine project not only to raise money, but also to educate kids on how they can make a difference for people all over the world.The Youth Groups from Warwick United Methodist Church and Warwick Valley Church of the Nazarene united to raise more than $2,000 to battle hunger and poverty. The churches are also trying to promote the sponsorship of individual children and families through the World Vision...
from the Albany Time UnionBy CHARLES MOOREMoving the regional economy in the right direction is a common theme in our local news these days. Local leaders understand the competition involved in luring a company here and the importance of offering strong incentives.As regional investments abound, we must be careful not to miss the opportunity to address the equally prominent and important local news stories of neglected city neighborhoods, crime, poverty and failing urban schools.Local advocates for low-income families cite Austin, Texas, where poverty indicators actually worsened following the high-tech boom. We can learn from Austin's mistakes.A hollowed-out urban center benefits no one. In fact, it has been well established that any decline in the inner city has a profound effect on...
from the Albany Times Union From poor to working poor: Between 2001 and 2005, 14,000 Capital Region residents fell below poverty line By JIMMY VIELKIND, Staff writerTROY -- Terry Behan is used to living in poverty. The 38-year-old father of three young boys ran away from home at age 15, living hand to mouth and fix to fix on the streets of Troy for the next few years. He did time, but straightened out when he met Shannon Brayman, the mother of his children.They doubled up with Brayman's twin sister in a Halfmoon trailer, as Behan and Danny Dunham, his soon-to-be-brother-in-law, worked full-time but still struggled. The family had made the transition from poor to working poor.Between 2001 and 2005, 14,000 Capital Region residents fell below the poverty line -- a slow but consistent rise...
from NewsdayBY MICHAEL AMONmichael.amon@newsday.comLong Island last month saw sharp increases in applications for government assistance and a surge of people seeking food from overwhelmed charity providers, developments that county officials and economists blame on a lagging economy.Suffolk County reported a 39-percent increase in food-stamp applicants and a 26-percent increase in welfare applicants last month, compared with 2007's monthly averages, according to the Department of Social Services. Emergency applications for assistance with utilities also shot up 39 percent, even though January was unusually mild.In Nassau, there were 37 percent more food-stamp applicants and 12 percent more welfare applications, compared with the same time last year, officials said. The county's known...
from The Buffalo NewsFuture success cloudedby lack of opportunity nowBy Charity Vogel Andre Vernor is only 10, but he’s got a big dream.He wants to open up a barber shop of his own someday.The only problem is, if that’s going to happen, Andre needs to learn how to read and write and handle money.And right now, he’s struggling with that. His dad used to teach Andre how to count out change: nickels, dimes, dollars. But his dad is in jail.A family friend who owned a Ferry Street barbershop, and let Andre work a few hours a week sweeping up hair and chatting with customers, was killed in a shooting on the West Side.But still, he keeps trying. “I don’t like reading, but if I have to, I do,” says Andre, a fourth-grader with a cherubic smile and a bent for mischief. “I can’t wait...
from the Ithaca Journal“You can't look at housing in isolation.”That's what Cornell University professor Joe Laquatra told our reporters for the latest installment of our Touched by Poverty series, and we agree with him.The housing issue in Tompkins County touches all walks of life. Finding affordable good housing is a problem many people here have faced, not just those on the lower rungs of the financial ladder.The latest installment of our poverty series ran Saturday. And for many people in this community, the words probably hit home. People like Jaime Clemens admit they made some mistakes that ultimately cost them a roof over their heads. We were happy to read Clemens is back on track and recently found an apartment. Others, like Valerie Wilson, needed the help public housing...
from Lockport Union-Sun & JournalBy Caitlin Murray/murrayc@gnnewspaper.comGreater Niagara NewspapersTOWN OF TONAWANDA — Anna Auernhamer, a ninth-grader at Newfane High School, hadn’t eaten in about 26 hours. To make matters worse, she was just informed she’s blind.Luckily for her, it was just an exercise.Nearly 75 students from Lockport and surrounding communities participated this weekend in a 30-hour famine to experience the hardship of living in a developing country.The short span of food abstinence was just a small taste of the struggles for those starving, though.“Thirty hours is trivial compared to what these people go through. They don’t eat for days,” said participant Emily DeSoto, an 11th-grader at North Tonawanda High School.The group of teens stopped eating Friday...
from The Ithaca JournalDemand on shelters nearly doubles in 7 yearsBy Krisy Gashler and Topher SandersJournal StaffJamie Clemens' bouts with homelessness over the years have found him sleeping under Ithaca's State Street bridge and in a farmer's barn in Alabama for three nights.In the barn Clemens slept in a stall and cuddled with a calf to keep warm.“The blanket was stretched over both of us,” said Clemens, 28.Clemens, who said he battled substance addiction between 2000 and 2003, admitted that many, if not all, of his housing problems are due to decisions he made throughout his life.“Nobody wants to face up to the fact that they had a nice warm house and all of a sudden they have to decide where they're going to sleep tonight,” Clemens said. “Am I going to camp under this...
from The Albany Times Union Advocates say $291 monthly payment for family of 3 hasn't grown in 18 years; state cites other aid By RICK KARLIN, Capitol bureauALBANY -- A group of community organizations, clerics, soup kitchen operators and other anti-poverty activists are calling on Gov. Eliot Spitzer to increase the state's basic welfare grant. With the governor's stated willingness to raise the pay of trial court judges, who earn $136,000, and possibly that of legislators, who make $79,500 plus stipends, they say increasing the $291 per month for a family of three on public assistance is justified."It's been 18 years since it's been raised," said Mark Dunlea, executive director of the Hunger Action Network of New York State, and one of the letter writers.Dunlea and others plan to conduct...
from The Schenectady GazetteCatholics aiming to do more about problems in communityBy Sara Foss (Contact)Gazette ReporterCAPITAL REGION — A new report contains sobering facts.About 40 percent of African-Americans and 44.8 percent of Latinos in the city of Schenectady live in poverty. About 22 percent of adults in Fulton and Montgomery counties have not earned a high school diploma. More than 16 percent of non-elderly Montgomery County residents do not have health insurance.Yet unlike most reports on poverty, this one is interspersed with biblical Scripture. A chapter on income insecurity is preceded by verses from the book of Isaiah: “They shall live in the houses they build and eat the fruit of the vineyards they plant. … And my chosen ones shall long enjoy the produce of their...
from WGRZAccording to the U.S. Census Bureau, one in three Buffalo residents are living below the poverty level. Their financial situations may be similar, but there are many different faces to poverty.Patricia and Don Doolittle are the perfect example of that. She's a college-educated mother of two. Despite her best efforts, there are months when the money doesn't go far enough."It can be so frustrating you can walk into the house and actually feel the stress," Patricia said.After graduating from Bryant and Stratton College, Patricia worked for months to find employment. She wanted to be an administrative assistant; but, either no one was hiring or her lack of experience hurt her."I don't expect somebody to just hand me a job. I went out there," she said. "I went looking. I did the...
from The Times Union Poor students in rural districts can achieve a college education By RICK DALTON and JOHN MILLSThe of Ticonderoga have a lot going for them that other places may envy. Their halls are safe. Their children are part of a small community that keeps an eye on them as they grow up.But they're also being hammered by poverty.Nearly one out of every two students in the town's school system qualifies for free, or reduced cost, lunch. Just 20 years ago, that figure was at 12 percent.Ticonderoga, a town of 5,100 on the shores of Lake Champlain, struggles every day with something more and more rural communities are forced to confront: a surging tide of poverty that threatens to keep those students from ever attaining a college education.This tide is eroding what communities expect...