More Hoosiers feeling the pain of poverty, By Bill Ruthhart, October 5, 2009, Indianapolis Star: “Indiana is one of only eight states that last year had a statistically significant increase in its poverty rate — likely yet another troubling effect of devastating layoffs in the auto and RV industries, experts said. The percentage of Hoosiers living in poverty increased to 13.1 percent in 2008, up from 12.3 percent the year before, according to the Census Bureau’s annual American Community Survey. That survey estimates that more than 807,000 Hoosiers were living in poverty in 2008, up from 757,000 in 2007. The numbers are particularly disturbing for black and Hispanic Hoosiers. In 2007, 25.5 percent of blacks and 22.2 percent of Hispanics lived below the poverty line, compared with 10.4 percent of whites. But this year’s survey shows those numbers have climbed to 28.1 percent of blacks and 23.7 percent of Hispanics. The percentage of whites rose more slowly, to 11 percent. Experts who work with the homeless and help distribute food stamps say Indiana’s increased poverty rates reflect what they’ve seen since last year: More Hoosiers are struggling to make ends meet and feed their families…”
Day: October 5, 2009
Access to Social Services in Suburban Areas – New York
Scattered in suburbs, and in need, By Julie Bosman, October 2, 2009, New York Times: “It is hard enough for the unemployed and others struggling financially to figure out how to obtain social services like food stamps, counseling and utility assistance for the first time. It can be even harder in the suburbs. There, many residents, including middle-class people unversed in the welfare system, have trouble making use of the shelters, government offices and nonprofit agencies that are less visible than in cities, spread out across a larger area and harder to reach using public transportation. So needy people are commonly sharing rides, walking and riding buses, often with small children in tow, in larger numbers than before the recession, officials said. And for advice on how to get help in the first place, they are seeking out priests, school nurses and small-town mayors, turning them into de facto social workers…”
States and Stimulus Funding for Education
Report: States using stimulus to replace, not boost school aid, By Libby Quaid (AP), October 2, 2009, USA Today: “An internal watchdog at the Education Department says states are using money from the economic stimulus to plug budget holes instead of boosting aid for schools. President Barack Obama did not intend for state lawmakers to simply cut state education spending and replace it with stimulus dollars. But Congress made that tough to enforce, and the Education Department’s inspector general said in a memo Thursday that some states are doing it. That means instead of getting extra help to weather tough times, school districts and colleges could wind up with the same level of state aid or with cuts, even as local tax revenues plummet…”