Journey to the center of a windmill via It's Getting Hot In Here
A
A rally for Darfur in Dallas via Poverty News Blog
from the Dallas Morning News Here's a story on Darfur, a rally in Dallas took place reciently that supported the indictment of the Sudan's president. Also here is a link to video of the rally. - KaleBy JEFFREY WEISS Zeddim Dawelbit telephoned his sister Thursday, back in his genocide-wracked homeland of Darfur. When he asked her about how things were going, she started to cry, he said.“She told me not to ask about Darfur. ‘Just tell me what it’s like there,’ ” Mr. Dawelbit told a loosely organized Dallas rally to support an indictment of Sudan’s president by the International Criminal Court.About 60 people assembled around a statue of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. today. Most were originally from Darfur, the western region of Sudan where American and international... Not enough: Area agencies struggling to help needy families via Poverty News Blog
from The Wichita Fall Record News By Judith McGinnisFor a growing number of North Texans, there is too much month at the end of the money. Rising fuel costs, growing utility bills and grocery store prices have left many who were at least breaking even in 2007 now seeking aid for the basics.As a result, the network of agencies that helps families with these needs is facing an ever growing challenge.“We’re barely matching the need now,” said Mary Stengel, executive director of the Wichita Falls Area Food Bank. “More than 34,000 people in Wichita Falls live at or below the poverty level and we’re not reaching them. We’re doing our best but we know hunger is a reality for too many of our neighbors.”The WFAFB provides food for more than 100 partner agencies in 13 surrounding... SPECIAL REPORT: $14 a day one year later via Poverty News Blog
from the El Paso TimesPay increases don't keep up with costsBy Ramon Bracamontes / El Paso TimesThe gap between those El Pasoans living in poverty and those who are not is widening as price increases for necessities such as milk, eggs and gasoline put a major strain on low-income households, experts say.In 2007, it was estimated that more than 200,000 El Pasoans lived in poverty. While that figure officially remains unchanged because no new U.S. Census data is available, people who work with the poor and keep an eye on the economy say that number might have increased in the past year."Prices in the past year have gone up; we all know that," said University of Texas at El Paso economics Professor Tom Fullerton. "The big question is whether incomes have also gone up."While the per capita... UMC gets $5 million for anti-malaria efforts via Poverty News Blog
from the Dallas Morning News The grant was announced at the UMC's General Conference, underway in Fort Worth. Details below:United Methodists Receive $5 Million To Help End Child Malaria DeathsGrant Announced On World Malaria DayFORT WORTH: As it commemorates World Malaria Day, The United Methodist Church announced today it will receive a $5 million grant from the United Nations Foundation, with support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, to help eliminate malaria and other diseases of poverty.Bishop Thomas Bickerton revealed the grant at the United Methodist General Conference, the denomination's top legislative body meeting in Fort Worth through May 2."We hope to use this $5 million to support a fundraising and educational campaign to help end deaths of children from malaria.... Program uses community to curb poverty via Poverty News Blog
from the News JournalCircles Initiative started in Longview, mentors residents to self-sufficiencyBy CHRISTINA LANEThursday, April 03, 2008The federal government does not consider a family of four with a $21,200 income to be at poverty level.In Longview, about twice that amount is a livable wage for a family of four, said Scott Miller, co-founder and CEO of Move the Mountain Leadership Center in Ames, Iowa.Longview's Partners in Prevention is starting Move the Mountain's Circles Initiative to help poverty-stricken families become self-sufficient."The Circle Initiative is a new approach to end poverty based on creating a circle of support," said Holly Fuller with Partners in Prevention. "It is based on the thought of reciprocity - that everybody has something to give."Partners in... Rising food prices pinching low-income people and food banks via Poverty News Blog
from the Austin American Statesman'People are really hurting right now.'By Andrea BallAMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFFMary Ornales' food stamps don't last long these days.Six months ago, the monthly allotment from the federal food program fed the South Austin mother and her four young children for the whole month. Now, it barely stretches three weeks."I feel like it's going faster, and I have to buy more things myself," said Ornales, 25.Across the country, low-income families are struggling with rising food costs. Last year, escalating gas prices — along with the increasing cost of corn and other farming supplies — contributed to higher transportation and packaging costs. The result was a 5.8 percent increase in food prices in major cities across the country, according to the U.S. Bureau of... ‘I work sick all the time’ via Poverty News Blog
from the Fort Worth Star-TelegramFor families without health insurance, illness can lead to lost wages as well as high medical billsNinth in a yearlong series on the struggles of Tarrant County's working poor.Ofelia Luevano prays that three of her children don't get seriously hurt or ill.Not only for their well-being but also because they don't have health insurance.The four children she and her husband, Antonio, took in about three years ago qualify for Medicaid, but the couple's natural children don't.So Ofelia said she stockpiles over-the-counter medications for when Carlos, 17, Antonio, 12, and Omar, 11, get colds and other illnesses that "I can fix."The three Luevano youngsters are among the estimated 9 million children living in the U.S. without health insurance, according to the... Fasting Dallas-Fort Worth teens to help fight hunger, poverty via Poverty News Blog
from the Dallas Morning NewsBy RACHEL SLADE / The Dallas Morning Newsrslade@dallasnews.comMore than 2,100 teens from Dallas-Fort Worth are expected to join kids nationwide in a 30-hour fast this weekend to support World Vision, a Christian humanitarian organization working to end hunger and poverty. The North Texas groups, drawn mostly from churches, schools and civic organizations, hope to raise $140,000 through pledge donations for World Vision's national goal of $12.5 million.Through "30 Hour Famine," the teens will learn what it's like to be one of the billions who lack food every day."We show information to the students so they understand the broader picture," said Ron DuPree, youth ministry director at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Denton. "It's not just people being lazy on the... Report: Less experienced teachers go to schools with higher poverty levels via Poverty News Blog
from My West Texas Ruth CampbellMidland Reporter-TelegramReport: Less experienced teachers go to schools with higher poverty levelsMISD official says the district tries to find the best teachers for the job. A report issued by a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit, shows less experienced teachers in Texas go to higher poverty/higher minority schools, while those with more experience go to campuses with fewer minorities and more wealth.The report, compiled by Education Trust, a nonprofit whose mission is to lift all students to higher achievement, centers on Texas' 50 largest districts, including Midland ISD. It focuses primarily on larger urban areas and uses data from the 2005-06 school year.MISD has an average of 49.1 percent economically disadvantaged students, compared to the state... Poor, minority students in Texas more likely to have inexperienced teachers, study finds via Poverty News Blog
form the Dallas Morning NewsStudy: Students at poor schools most likely to have newest educatorsBy TAWNELL D. HOBBS / The Dallas Morning Newstdhobbs@dallasnews.comPoor black and Hispanic students in Texas are more likely to have inexperienced teachers who receive lower salaries, according to a report released Thursday by a Washington-based group that monitors achievement trends. The Education Trust report looked at gaps in teacher experience and pay in 50 of the largest school districts in Texas and found that the vast majority "saddle high-poverty and high-minority schools with disproportionate numbers of rookie teachers."In the Dallas Independent School District, gaps in teacher quality are not as big as in some of the state's other large districts, said Kati Haycock, Education Trust... The Re-Energize Texas Summit, Feb 8-10 via It's Getting Hot In Here
There is actually a youth climate summit happening this weekend in Texas! Yay! The Re-Energize Texas Summit, Feb 8-10th at the University of Texas – Austin. After starting off with just a dozen young climate activists four months ago, we’re getting ready this weekend to host a few hundred students coming from all over Texas for the biggest global warming summit ever in the Lone Star state. We have some fantastic speakers including Mayor Will Wynn of Austin, Rev. Lennox Yearwood, Peter Illyn, IPCC author Dr. Camille Parmesan, Ted Glick, Br. ChiSing, Tom “Smitty” Smith, Stonyfield Farm CEO Gary Hirshberg and Jim Hightower. We also have an incredible line up of workshops and trainings touching everything from spiritual practice in sustaining activism, climate change and national... Bell poverty rate lower than state’s: Figures may not tell whole story via Poverty News Blog
from The Temple Daily TelegramCarroll WilsonTelegram Managing EditorBell County’s poverty rate is lower than that of Texas as a whole, according to new figures from the Census Bureau.But, the rate for young people in Temple school district and several surrounding districts is higher.Another data set just released by the government shows that the average weekly wage in Bell County is $630. That’s $32,760 a year.But some local experts say the numbers don’t even come close to telling the whole story about the poor and the middle class here.Cynthia Russell, who has headed up Churches Touching Lives for Christ for 14 years in Temple, doubts the poverty data.“I don’t even know how you’d do a census here,” she said, noting the high number of people she sees who are homeless.“If... Santa Fean Combats Poverty With Food via Poverty News Blog
from Red OrbitBy PAT REED, PHOTO BY REBECCA CRAIGMan's passion to relieve food insecurity was planted at age of 10Poverty: As supermarkets left poor areas, food prices soaredWhen Mark Winne was 10, a pair of World War II refugees who lived near his family threw a Fourth of July party at their New Jersey home. At some point, the youngster wandered off to explore the vegetable garden in the couple's backyard. "I suddenly came face-to- face with my first vine-ripe tomato," Winne writes in Closing the Food Gap: Resetting the Table in the Land of Plenty.The tomato was "lush, full, and round," he says, and "I reacted tothe sight and scent of it with thesame sense of awe that I would react with much later in life at the sightof my first naked female breast."That tomato was a revelation. "My... Poverty and Education: Census: 20 Percent of City’s Schoolchildren Lived in Poverty in 2005 via Poverty News Blog
from Red OrbitBy Sruthi Kunnel, Victoria Advocate, TexasJan. 26--More than 22 percent of Texas school-age children lived in poverty in 2005, according to information from the U.S. Census Bureau.Texas had the seventh highest poverty rate in the country. The national average is 17 percent. Mississippi had the highest poverty rate, 28 percent, and New Hampshire had the lowest at 8 percent.The data released by the U.S. Census Bureau details poverty rates among children ages 5 to 17 years for all the school districts in the country in 2005.Across Texas, the rates for those living in poverty in the state's 1,033 school districts varied widely. Lackland school district in Bexar County hovered around 4 percent, and Santa Maria school district in Cameron County had more than 70 percent.Victoria... Officials split on local poverty rate increase via Poverty News Blog
from the Longview News JournalGregg County levels rise 3% in five yearsBy MIKE ELSWICKGregg County's poverty level jumped from 14.9 percent in 2000 to 17.9 percent in 2005, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures released Wednesday.Those percentages translate into more than 3,700 additional county residents living at or below poverty levels in the five-year period. That jump took place despite Longview and East Texas economic indicators, such as unemployment rates and taxable sales, which have improved in recent years.John Stroud, executive director of Longview Economic Development Corp., said he questioned the federal government's poverty estimates."There's just no way — all the facts and figures we have point in just the opposite direction," Stroud said. "Our per capita income is... A walk in poverty’s shoes via Poverty News Blog
from the Dallas Morning NewsPlunge2Poverty' is Waco couple's bid to convey reality of the conditionQ&A WITH ... Jimmy Dorrell has never experienced abject poverty firsthand. But that hasn't kept the Waco minister and teacher from feeling love and compassion for those who face such an existence. More than 20 years ago, he and his wife, Janet, sold their home and traveled the world to witness poverty up close."We have worked in the slums of Calcutta, hugged physically and mentally disabled orphans in Mexico City and drilled water wells in a small village of Haiti," Dr. Dorrell says in his most recent guidebook, Plunge2Poverty (New Hope Publishers).The work had a huge effect on the couple's lives. But the big change came in 1986, when a youth minister friend from Oklahoma called to ask for...
Politics, poverty, immigration entangle Texas health care via Poverty News Blog
from The Dallas Morning NewsTexas' health care entangled in politics, poverty, immigrationBy JASON ROBERSON / The Dallas Morning Newsjroberson@dallasnews.comMiles Brooks was born in 2002 with end-stage renal disease, or kidney failure, and immediately placed on dialysis. Every night, the DeSoto boy gets hooked up for 10 hours to a machine in his bedroom – his mom, Chinea, connecting the tubes to a catheter in his tummy. As a child with chronic kidney disease, Miles qualifies for Medicare, but there is still a premium charge for his medical insurance through the federal program. So, on top of what dad Michael Brooks pays at work for the family's health policy, the couple must also come up with $290 every three months for Medicare. They've borrowed from relatives and been late on their...
Ex-councilman expands his fight against poverty via Poverty News Blog
from the Fort Worth Star TelegramBy JOHN KIRSCHStar-Telegram staff writerRalph McCloud traces his social awareness to his childhood in southeast Fort Worth.He saw people struggle for the basics of life, and the experience gave him a lifelong desire to relieve poverty."I'm struck by the very, very serious abject poverty that exists in our nation, and I'm often driven to see both what I can do personally and what I can do to encourage others to be aware of it, and secondly look at ways of trying to relieve it," said McCloud, a former Fort Worth city councilman and mayor pro tem.Since 1995, McCloud has served as head of community and pastoral services for the Fort Worth Catholic Diocese. In that job, he has been involved in a wide range of community and anti-poverty efforts, such as leading...
Poverty rate climbs for Texas kids via Poverty News Blog
from the Baytown SunBy Kari GriffinBaytown SunThey aren’t just statistics. Members of the Baytown community say the rise in child poverty depicted in “The State of Children 2007” report is a fact.Texas may have seen a statewide improvement in maternal and infant health, but a new report by the Austin-based Center for Public Policy Priorities (CPPP), said child poverty in Texas, specifically Harris County, continues to climb.“The report finds that when it comes to maternal and infant health, Texas has much to be thankful for,”(like improved infant mortality, less teen births and an increase in the number of expectant women receiving prenatal care), said Frances Deviney, Texas KIDS COUNT director. “At the same time, work remains in other areas. Statewide poverty is up for the...
A roof over their heads, but much hardship beneath it via Poverty News Blog
from The Fort Worth Star TelegramWith an annual income of about $27,600, Terri Rushing knows how difficult it can be to keep a roof over her family's head.Four years ago, the Grapevine mom was certain that she and her three children were destined to live out of the family's rickety old van. She was running out of money to pay for the family's room at an extended-stay motel, and she had already lived with her brother for a few months. She sought help from the Fort Worth Housing Authority only to be told that there was a four-year waiting list.Her church at the time couldn't offer her support. And she didn't qualify for a 24-month transitional-housing program for victims of domestic violence."It was so emotional and hard for me that when I think back on those times I feel tired and...
Teachers figure into the school gap via Poverty News Blog
from the San Antonio News ExpressJeanne RussellEXPRESS-NEWS STAFF WRITERIf you go to school in a predominantly black Texas community, your teachers likely are new to the profession, unfamiliar with their subject or on their way out the door.The failure to ensure that the nation's classrooms, especially those in disadvantaged schools, all are staffed with qualified teachers is one of the most serious -- and unaddressed -- problems in American education, experts say.That's because teaching plays a major role in how students, and ultimately schools, fare. Students at low-income schools forced to rely on weak teachers fail important tests. The schools then are branded poor performers and have an even harder time attracting strong educators. And the cycle continues.Lancaster High School in...
Poverty abounds in oil-rich Texas town via Poverty News Blog
from the Chicago TribuneBy Shanna SissomNew York Times News ServiceMIDLAND, TexasWealth created by $90-a-barrel oil may have this region of West Texas booming, but not everyone is prospering.Affordable housing is getting harder and harder to find for people such as Luz Sosa and others on Social Security, disability or fixed incomes.Sosa, a 58-year-old stroke victim, is losing her apartment over a matter of $50 a month. The difference between $419 and a rent increase to $469 is just out of her reach.Fearing she would be out on the streets, Sosa sought the assistance of Helping Hands, an organization that reaches out to the poor and needy. She is downsizing to a one-room dwelling.Sosa feels blessed to have located it for $298 a month in a market where potential tenants are commonly on...
Women’s advocacy group brings awareness to poverty and hunger through demonstration via Poverty News Blog
from the Texas A&M BattalionSophomore psychology major and member of the group W: Women in Power, Power in Women, Alyssa Kreutter, lays among bags stuffed with blankets Wednesday in Rudder Plaza. The members of the group or dependent on the kindness of those walking by. The demonstration will continue until Friday.By: Stacy EdwardsMembers of W:Women in Power, Power in Women, will live in Rudder Plaza with nothing but the clothes on their backs from 7 a.m. Wednesday to 7 p.m. Friday for W's Poverty Demonstration.They will inform students about global and local needs while selling T-shirts for their philanthropy, Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere, Inc., CARE.Amanda Snyder, a junior anthropology major and executive director and founder of Texas A&M's W organization, said W...
VIDES volunteers teach needy around the world via Poverty News Blog
from My San AntonioValentino LucioExpress-NewsAt the beginning of the school year, Andrea Cisneros moved into her new home on the grounds of St. John Bosco School on the West Side. The 22-year-old volunteer lives there with the Salesian Sisters as part of the Volunteers International for Development Education Service (VIDES) program.After graduating from the University of Delaware in May, Cisneros knew she wanted to volunteer her time to help children in need. After applying to various programs throughout the world, she found the right fit teaching underprivileged kids in the fifth grade in San Antonio."I knew when I graduated from college that I wanted to do volunteer work," Cisneros said. "I don't get paid for my service here, but the sisters make sure I get what I need.""I knew a lot...
Fair-trade products fare well via Poverty News Blog
from the Houston ChronicleMore businesses are selling the coffee, tea and sugar that help make faraway farmers' lives betterBy JENALIA MORENOCatalina Coffee Shop's exposed brick walls are decorated with black and white photographs of Guatemala — owner Max Gonzalez's homeland and one of several nations producing the fair-trade coffee he pours.At Té House of Tea, owner Connie Lacobie measured fair-trade teas from India one afternoon at the serene shop filled with bags of tea, teapots and aprons.And several Houston chefs now add fair-trade sugars sold by Sugar Land's Wholesome Sweeteners to their cocktails and desserts.More and more Bayou City businesses are helping farmers earn a better living with each cup of fair-trade coffee, tea or spoonful of sugar they sell."It's really wonderful...
Texas Youth Rise to the Climate Challenge! via It's Getting Hot In Here
On October 20th, 15 youth leaders from across central Texas attended the first Texas Youth Climate Summit at Austin Community College in Austin. The meeting led to the birth of Re-Energize Texas, the first youth coalition working to address global warming in Texas! The gathering had 15 student leaders with representation from UT Austin, UT San Antonio, Austin Community College, Baylor University, South Western University, and St. Edwards University. With some delicious Ethiopian food to sustain the spirit of action, students had an opportunity to:
Establish new relationships and learn about each other’s work
Attend workshops on global warming science and policy, campus solutions to global warming, and strategies for climate organizing, and finally
Plan some major projects and...
Business owners learn what it’s like to live in poverty via Poverty News Blog
from the San Antonio News ExpressDeborah KnappKENS 5 Eyewitness NewsIn San Antonio, 45,000 families live in poverty. While there are social services available, on Monday, business leaders learned how hard it is for low income families to take advantage of them."I'm learning it's very hard to get around with no transportation, and no money to pay for transportation," said Donna Normandain, a senior vice president at Frost Bank.In a program called Poverty Simulation, sponsored by the National League of Cities, dozens of local business leaders spent the day taking on the identity of a person in poverty. Businessmen became single mothers, and grown men became teenagers."Well, my mom's going to be kicked out of the house any moment, and I went to get a job, because I don't have any money,"...
Leaders call Summit on Poverty a step for change via Poverty News Blog
from The Fort Worth Star TelegramBy TRACI SHURLEYtshurley@star-telegram.comFORT WORTH — Ideas to help Tarrant County residents pull themselves out of poverty hit the table Thursday as about 100 social service providers met at the Tarrant County Public Health’s facility for a Summit on Poverty.The event, hosted by the recently formed Tarrant Coalition Against Poverty, is an initial step toward coming up with a strategic plan for change, organizers said. The meeting’s afternoon sessions focused on literacy and ways to increase residents’ financial stability. Speakers included representatives from a Tarrant County credit union and the Internal Revenue Service.Ideas included increasing publicity about tax breaks like the earned-income tax credits and starting individual development...
Summit on Poverty aims to foster self-sufficiency via Poverty News Blog
from The Fort Worth Star TelegramBy TRACI SHURLEYStar-Telegram Staff WriterMembers of the newly formed Tarrant Coalition Against Poverty want to focus on doing more than putting a Band-Aid on the problems of the county's poor.So the group of government, business and social service professionals will gather this week to look at what helps people achieve financial stability and what doesn't.Their Summit on Poverty is planned for Thursday at Tarrant County Public Health's facility at 1100 S. Main St. in Fort Worth."There's so many of these folks that are living right on the edge, and all it takes is just one illness or one car breaking down, and then they snowball," said Sue Matkin, a United Way of Tarrant County assistant vice president who is part of the coalition. "If we could kind of...