You are here

Poverty

Primary tabs

This working group is focused on discussions about poverty.

The mission of this working group is to focus on discussions about poverty.

Members

John Girard Kathy Gilbeaux Maeryn Obley mdmcdonald

Email address for group

poverty@m.resiliencesystem.org

Americans Want to Believe Jobs Are the Solution to Poverty. They’re Not.

           

The house of Vanessa Solivan’s mother, right of garden.  Credit Devin Yalkin for The New York Times

U.S. unemployment is down and jobs are going unfilled. But for people without much education, the real question is: Do those jobs pay enough to live on?

nytimes.com - by Matthew Desmond - September 11, 2018

 . . . These days, we’re told that the American economy is strong. Unemployment is down, the Dow Jones industrial average is north of 25,000 and millions of jobs are going unfilled. But for people like Vanessa, the question is not, Can I land a job? (The answer is almost certainly, Yes, you can.) Instead the question is, What kinds of jobs are available to people without much education? By and large, the answer is: jobs that do not pay enough to live on.

(CLICK HERE - READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

 

Country / Region Tags: 
General Topic Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

L.A. to Declare 'State of Emergency' on Homelessness, Commit $100 Million

      

Annie Moody adjusts belongings next to her tent on Towne Avenue at 6th Street in Los Angeles. (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)

latimes.com - by Peter Jamison, David Zahniser and Matt Hamilton - September 22, 2015

Los Angeles elected leaders announced Tuesday that they will declare a “state of emergency” on the growing homelessness problem in the city and commit $100 million toward housing and other services for homeless people.

The proposal, which was presented at a City Hall press conference attended by City Council members and Mayor Eric Garcetti, coincides with a Garcetti administration proposal, issued late Monday, that aims to free up nearly $13 million in newly anticipated excess tax revenue for short-term housing initiatives.

If approved, the pair of initiatives could significantly increase the resources dedicated to tackling homelessness in a city where the majority of the 26,000 homeless people live on the streets.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Country / Region Tags: 
General Topic Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

Seven Graphics that Explain Energy Poverty and How the US Can Do Much More

          

cgdev.org - by Todd Moss and Madeleine Gleave - February 18, 2014

1.     Energy poverty is an endemic and crippling problem; nearly 600 million people in Africa live without access to any power, which also means no access to safer and healthier electric cooking and heating, powered health centers and refrigerated medicines, light to study at night, or electricity to run a business.  Here’s the situation in the 6 countries chosen to be part of President Obama’s Power Africa Initiative, home to nearly 1/3 of the continent’s population:

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Country / Region Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

World's Displaced Hits Record High of 60 Million, Half of Them Children - UN

reuters.com - by Joseph D'Urso - June 18, 2015

Almost 60 million people worldwide were forcibly uprooted by conflict and persecution at the end of last year, the highest ever recorded number, the U.N. refugee agency said on Thursday, warning that the situation could deteriorate further. . .

. . . "I believe things will get worse before they eventually start to get better," U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said at a news conference in Istanbul.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Country / Region Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

Detroit Residents Fight Back Over Water Shutoff: It's a Life-or-Death Situation

Of 178 homes whose water was shut off last week, 79 had restarted their supplies, triggering $21,750 in fines on top of what the residents already owed. Photograph: James Fassinger

The beleaguered city says a water shutoff is essential to recoup $89m in overdue bills. But the decision has outraged thousands of Detroiters – who have taken matters into their own hands

theguardian.com - by Jon Swaine - July 21, 2014

When the coast is clear, and the trucks from the contractor shutting off water for the city of Detroit have rolled away, the men with water keys come.

They offer residents whose supply has just been shut off a tempting deal. For $20, they will use their tools to turn the water main back on immediately, and illegally, sparing the household the agonising days spent without showering, cooking or flushing that have already been endured by at least 16,000 of their neighbours so far this year.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Country / Region Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

What Happens When Detroit Shuts Off the Water of 100,000 People

      

Eric Thayer/Reuters

Some run dry—and others pay $30 for plumbers to illegally turn the taps back on.

theatlantic.com - by Rose Hackman - July 17, 2014

When the water trucks arrived near Arlyssa Heard’s home on the west side of Detroit at the end of June, the 42-year-old single mother of two said it felt like the entire neighborhood was being taken over. . .

. . . It may not have been a police crackdown, but what she witnessed was definitely a crackdown of a sort. Since last year, the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department has been turning off water at the homes of customers behind on their bills.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Country / Region Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

Number of People Living in Poverty Areas Up, Census Bureau Reports

      

census.gov - June 30, 2014 - (CLICK ON INFOGRAPHIC ABOVE FOR 1 PAGE .PDF IMAGE FILE)

One in four U.S. residents live in "poverty areas," according to American Community Survey data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau from 2008 to 2012, up from less than one in five in 2000. These areas of concentrated poverty refer to any census tract with a poverty rate of 20 percent of more. The number of people living in poverty areas increased from 49.5 million (18.0 percent) in 2000 to 77.4 million (25.7 percent) in 2008-2012.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Country / Region Tags: 
General Topic Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

One Million K-12 Students Are Homeless

      

The number of homeless students in public preschools, elementary schools, middle schools and high schools is at an all-time high.  Photo: John Moore/Getty Images

CLICK HERE - Department of Education
Education for Homeless Children and Youths Program - Data Collection Summary (34 page .PDF report)

truth-out.org - by Crystal Shepeard - November 3, 2013

. . . For many students, when they go to school each morning, they may have no idea where they will be sleeping that night.

The Department of Education released its latest report on homeless students last month and the numbers are startling. More than 1.2 million K–12 students for the 2011-12 school year were homeless.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

ALSO SEE RELATED ARTICLES IN THE LINKS BELOW:

Student homelessness hits record high

Country / Region Tags: 
General Topic Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

Sleeping Bag Coat for the Homeless Finds Fans in the Fashion World

pbs.org - by William Harless - May 6, 2013

A few years ago, Veronika Scott, now 23, set up a coat manufacturing business in a graffiti-covered building in an old Irish manufacturing neighborhood of Detroit. She had a few sewing machines and a drive to help the homeless.

She wanted to make a coat that transforms into a sleeping bag, originally intended just for Detroit's homeless. But when she presented it at Aspen Fashion Week a year ago, some in the audience asked where they could get their own coats.

Environmental Justice Soldiers On Without a King, Queen—or Major Dollars

      

UPROSE “Youth Justice” members at a rally for the closing of New York’s Indian Point nuclear power plant. Photo: Murad Awawdeh/UPROSE

colorlines.com - by Brentin Mock - April 23, 2013

While mainstream environmental organizations lick their wounds over the failure of climate-change legislation and their startling lack of diversity, people of color and those living on low incomes continue to bear the brunt of climate-change impacts. We saw this most recently with Superstorm Sandy, which ripped through New York and the northeastern seaboard late last year. Sandy devastated many communities in low-lying areas such as the South Bronx and parts of New Jersey.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Pages

howdy folks