from the Technician Online by Cheyenne AutryNourish International is an organization that aims to reduce poverty through student action, both on and off campus. The organization incorporates students into developing countries to help create economic change and reduce destitution. The organization also works with nongovernmental organizations and held a hunger lunch on Tuesday to raise funds for upcoming projects, which usually cost about $5,000."We see a huge need in the world to help and this is our way of doing what we can with what we have," said co-chair Anushri Desai, a junior in biochemistry. "Sometimes we try to turn a blind eye to hunger because it can be a little hard to take in."Nourish International sponsored two trips last year, one to Uganda and one to Guatemala.Kelly Dew, a...
from the Raleigh News and ObserverMore people turn to charities that have little left to giveMartha Quillin, Staff WriterRALEIGH - By Wednesday morning, about the only thing in the house left for Kristie Hammonds to eat was her pride.So she choked that down and had a social worker friend drive her to Catholic Parish Outreach, where she got a week's worth of groceries for herself and her two sons, ages 4 and two weeks.Across the Triangle, those who distribute food to the needy say they have seen a spike in demand, including a rush of clients in the past month who, like Hammonds, have never had to ask for help or have done so only rarely. The agencies attribute the increase to rising food and gas prices, both of which are pinching the food pantries, making it difficult for them to stock...
from Go Dan RiverBy John CraneThe number of those who rely on food stamps to stock their pantries in Pittsylvania County has nearly doubled in the last five years, according to the county’s Department of Social Services.The county had 1,881 households using food stamps to purchase groceries in March 2003. But by March this year, that figure almost doubled to 3,522 cases, Jay Brown, director of the food stamp division under the Department of Social Services, said Wednesday.Households can include one person or several people.More full-time working adults who would have declined such assistance in the past, including teacher aides, nurse aides, clerical employees and construction workers with large families, are seeking the service now, Brown said.“It’s not a lot,” he said, “it’s...
from the Charlotte ObserverMecklenburg Social Services hasn't seen applications rise this much since recession hit in 2001FRED KELLYEven as Charlotte boasts one of the healthiest economies in the nation, record numbers of people are seeking government help to buy groceries.Not since the recession that began in 2001 has Mecklenburg County's Department of Social Services seen such a surge in requests for food stamps, officials say.With the decline of manufacturing jobs, stagnating wages and a spike in home foreclosures, the number of people who receive food stamps in Mecklenburg County has more than doubled since 2000.The figure climbed steadily in 2007, jumping about 6 percent in Mecklenburg. Now, about 1 in 10 residents use food stamps.Escalating food stamp requests is one sign that a...
from The Charlotte ObserverPinewood Elementary's unorthodox methods yield outstanding pass ratesANN DOSS HELMSWhat's going on at Pinewood Elementary?Superintendent Peter Gorman and the school board want to know. Frustrated by slow progress and setbacks at most high-poverty schools, Gorman asked his staff to crunch some numbers and find bright spots.Pinewood popped out. More than 80 percent of children in this south Charlotte school live in poverty, yet they're passing state tests at rates that leave other schools in the dust.Principal Nancy Guzman calls her strategies simple, if sometimes controversial.She groups kids by ability, with strong teachers and tiny classes for the weakest and a faster pace for high fliers.Students do daily timed drills reading passages out loud, a boon to...
from The Durham NewsChanges in welfare rules, influx of immigrants, cooling of economy cited for rising number of poor.Jim Wise, Staff WriterDurham County has a poverty rate of 15.6 percent, commissioners chairwoman Ellen Reckhow said in her state-of-the-county speech this week. Application rates for food stamps and Medicaid have almost doubled in this decade."I was very surprised," she said afterward.It's not just Durham. Right across the booming, prosperous Triangle, numbers suggest that hard times are spreading and have been for years."I think three things are going on," said Michael Walden, an economist at N.C. State University.For one thing, he said, eligibility rules have changed for public assistance; for another, the Triangle has had an influx of immigrants likely to need economic...
from The Tyron Daily BulletinChris DaileyStatistics suggest Polk County should have relatively few students in families living in poverty.In 2005, Polk County had the ninth highest per capita income in the state, according to the Center for Local Innovation.But those numbers can be misleading.Despite having a relatively high number of wealthy residents, Polk County has a substantial number of students living in poverty, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau on poverty and from Polk County Schools on free and reduced meals.A census bureau report released recently shows that 424 of 2,825 school age children in Polk County were living in poverty in 2005, up from 398 in 2004 and 246 in 1995.As a percentage, the number of students in poverty in Polk County has risen from 10.3 percent...
from The Charlotte ObserverSome agencies turn focus to helping those who already live in the regionFRED KELLYShannon Bartlett says she moved from Myrtle Beach to get one of the good-paying jobs she heard were plentiful in Charlotte.But a month since she arrived, Bartlett remains frustrated. She once cared for patients at a hospice but now can't find work. At night, she sleeps in makeshift homeless shelters at churches."There's nowhere for a woman in my position to go," said Bartlett, 46.Every year Mecklenburg County adds tens of thousand of newcomers, often well-paid professionals who enhance the region's reputation for prosperity. But there are signs that an increasing number of new arrivals are poor, jobless and homeless.Social workers say the influx is contributing to a sharp rise in...
from The Dunn Daily RecordLatest Census Bureau statistics also show incomes for most local counties have increased.Steve ReedReporterAbout 15 percent of North Carolina's residents were living in poverty in 2005, the U.S. Census Bureau said in statistics just released.North Carolina's poverty rate was higher than the nation's overall rate of 13 percent in 2005. With few exceptions, the poverty rate climbed for the region while incomes also increased.Harnett County Director of Social Services Pat Cameron said there are still a number of people in the county who don't have jobs."Some are making more money and their income is going up but there are still a number of people in the community that don't have jobs and are underemployed," Mr. Cameron said. "So you've got two things working against...
from The Greenville Daily ReflectorBy Brock LetchworthThe Daily ReflectorPitt County's poverty rate is above the state average, and officials say a lack of higher education skills is to blame.Newly released data from the U.S. Census Bureau last week revealed that 19.4 percent of the county's residents live in poverty, while the rate statewide is just below 15 percent.The numbers are from 2005, but state officials say they are the most recent statistics for income and poverty available.Pitt County's situation can be attributed to a high dropout rate, Billy Ray Hall, president of the state's rural economic development center, said."People aren't completing high school or not completing it in a timely matter, and that translates into lower wages in the marketplace or no wages," Hall said....
from The Burlington Times NewsKeren Rivas Almost 17,000 people - or 12.5 percent of Alamance County residents - lived in poverty in 2005, according to new estimates released Wednesday by the U.S. Census.Though the percentage is below both the state’s and country’s pov-erty rate for the same period - 14.9 and 13.3 respectively - the rate is still higher than what it was the year before.Though the figures are not cur-rent, the numbers show that across the board, poverty rates have stead-ily increased since 2000.The news is not surprising for those who work with the poor on a daily basis.“We could feel that that was hap-pening just based on the numbers that we have seen in most of our programs,” said Linda Allison, assistant director of the Alamance County Department of Social...
from The Rocky Mountain TelegramBy Mike HixenbaughRocky Mount TelegramEdgecombe County is the sixth most impoverished county in North Carolina, according to a report released Wednesday by the U.S. Census Bureau.As of 2005, roughly 26 percent of Edgecombe County residents – 13,637 in total – lived in poverty, the report said. That's up 7 percent from 2000, when fewer than 11,000 Edgecombe County residents were below the poverty line.In Nash County, 16.7 percent of all residents – 14,845 in total – lived in poverty in 2005, the report said. That, too, is up from 2000, when only 12 percent of Nash County residents lived below the poverty marker.Only Robeson, Halifax, Scotland, Tyrrell and Columbus counties had higher poverty rates than Edgecombe County.When several Edgecombe County...
from the Asheville Citizen TimesBy Andre A. RodriguezBrennan Harlan didn’t seem to be loving her meager meal of rice, while her Carolina Day School classmates on the other side of the room enjoyed a three-course meal.“It’s not really fair, but it’s what is going on in the world,” she said, realizing there are starving people elsewhere who would love to have her bowl of rice.Harlan and her eighth-grade classmates were participating Tuesday in the school’s third annual Hunger Banquet, which splits the students into low-, middle- and high-income groups.The low-income students were served a bowl of rice with no utensils. The middle-income group ate rice and beans with a plastic spoon.Auzhela Bozeman, who was part of the middle-income group, was quick to key in on the fact that...
from Charlotte Herald TribuneBy KATE SPINNERkate.spinner@heraldtribune.comCHARLOTTE COUNTY -- Low-income workers without health insurance will soon be able to receive free health care at a community clinic set to open in mid-December.While the clinic will start by offering care in the evening hours only, it will expand its services as more physicians volunteer their time.Already, 20 physicians have signed up, said Jeanne Wyman, who will become the clinic's director. Wyman worked for 23 years at the county health department, much of that time as director of nursing.She anticipates the clinic will be open four to five hours a day to start, with the ability to treat about 20 to 25 people each day. The eventual goal is to have it open 12 hours a day, 6 days a week."All stupendous things have...
from The Charlotte ObserverCAMPAIGNS TOUR `CORRIDOR OF SHAME'Presidential candidates put focus on Palmetto State's poorJIM MORRILLIt was more than a half-century ago that a black principal named J.A. DeLaine, fed up with racial disparities, helped bring a lawsuit against his small school district in Clarendon County, S.C.It became part of the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark 1954 ruling that desegregated American schools. But today, Clarendon County remains part of the "Corridor of Shame," a swath of poor S.C. counties where schools remain largely segregated and economic opportunities are few."That community is no better off than it was 50 years ago," says DeLaine's son Joseph, 74, of Charlotte. "You're dealing with a Third World country."Today, former U.S. Sen. John Edwards of North...
from the Charlotte ObserverSome on board unimpressed with results of money spent to improve achievementPETER SMOLOWITZpsmolowitz@charlotteobserver.comSchool board members and a top official with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools challenged one another Tuesday over efforts to improve high-poverty, low-performing schools.The attempts to boost test scores and recruit effective teachers for the 11 schools, which form what's known as the Achievement Zone, have been one of Superintendent Peter Gorman's signature plans since he arrived last year.But after listening to a presentation from a team spearheading the push, some board members who often disagree each indicated skepticism.These struggles aren't new, so why haven't there been more results, the board members asked. How will the latest...
from the Fayetteville ObserverJohn FuquayRALEIGH — An anti-poverty bill that could provide millions of dollars to North Carolina counties may have a better chance of congressional approval this year than it has seen in two previous attempts.The bill would create the Southeast Crescent Authority, which would be modeled after the Appalachian Regional Commission that has lifted millions of people from poverty in a region that includes the North Carolina mountains.The proposed authority, which is rooted in North Carolina, would serve seven southeastern states, including the southeastern two-thirds of the Tar Heel state.The idea was developed in 2001 in a study at East Carolina University and has twice been submitted to Congress. Both times, the legislation was derailed by other bills.Now...
from Yes WeeklyFour months after North Carolina Senator John Edwards lost a bruising presidential election as Democratic nominee John Kerry's running mate in 2004, UNC-Chapel Hill announced that the defeated candidate would lead the new Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity at the university's law school.With the stated goal of bringing together "faculty and other national public policy experts to examine innovative and practical ideas for moving more Americans out of poverty and into the middle class," the center might have seemed a ready-made opportunity for Edwards to keep his name in the national spotlight and develop policy ideas as he considered another run for president."I don't think it requires any stretch of the imagination to conclude that the poverty center was a political...
from The Star News onlineIf the region were its own state, its 2 million people would make it the 36th most populous, just ahead of New Mexico.In area, it would be about three times the size of New Jersey.Compared with the rest of the nation, it would be among the poorest and least educated states.That's if it were on its own.In reality, it's the 41 counties of eastern North Carolina.In a state that's among the fastest-growing in the country, the eastern third is hurting. You wouldn't know it by looking at New Hanover, and much of Pender and Brunswick counties. The economy is booming in those places."You don't have to travel far, not more than 30 or 40 miles" from Wilmington, to see a profoundly different set of circumstances, said Larry Clark, dean of the business school at the...
from The McDowell NewsBy ANDY FERGUSONLiving in poverty is a daily - and sometimes hourly - struggle for people around the globe.It’s full of backbreaking work, poor food, exposure to the elements, disease and injustice, as a group of McDowell students and teachers learned firsthand last week.Using money from a Learn and Serve grant, more than two-dozen students and several staff members from the Accelerated Learning Center, Leap Academy and Early College spent last Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at the Heifer Ranch in Perryville, Ark. living the lives of people from around the world and here in the U.S. who suffer from poverty.The ranch’s Global Village allows its guests to experience the living conditions in areas where the nonprofit Heifer International provides aid, according to...
from The News RecordBy Richard M. BarronStaff WriterThe area’s poverty statistics are stark and sobering.* More than 62,000 people in Guilford, Rockingham and Randolph counties — but not including Greensboro — are classified as poor.* The number of people on food stamps in High Point is at an all-time high and more than double what it was in the late 1990s.* Rockingham County has lost 32 percent of its manufacturing jobs since 2000.Those are some of the reasons a new report ranks the three-county area among the 10 regions with the most suburban poverty in the nation. The study by the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank, shows that the 2005 poverty rate in Guilford, Rockingham and Randolph counties outside the city of Greensboro is 14.4 percent, a notch below New Orleans...