Knox County lands on poverty warning list, By Tom Loewy, May 5, 2010, Galesburg Register-Mail: “Heartland Alliance’s Social Impact Research Center released some bad news for Illinois in the form of the 2010 Report on Poverty. And the news for Knox County – released Tuesday on www.heartlandalliance.org/povertyreport – wasn’t any better. According to Amy Terpstra, associate director of the research center, Knox County was one of 29 counties placed on Heatland Alliance’s ‘Poverty Warning List’ for 2010. The county was on the ‘Poverty Watch List’ – ranking above the warning list – in 2009. ‘Counties on the warning list fared very poorly in two areas: the high school graduation rate and the teen pregnancy rate,’ Terpstra said. ‘Those are indicators of the poverty in the future. The main indicators we used to gauge present poverty was the unemployment rate and poverty rate…'”
Day: May 6, 2010
Rates of Homelessness – Hawaii, North Dakota
- Hawaii homelessness still rising in wake of recession’s job cuts, By Mary Vorsino, May 5, 2010, Honolulu Advertiser: “Despite signs of an economic recovery, advocates warn that many Hawai’i families are still teetering close to homelessness – or falling into it – as they run through their savings. Shelters islandwide report a steady flow of people coming in who are direct victims of the recession, after losing their jobs or seeing their pay or hours cut. And preliminary results from the state’s annual homeless point-in-time count, conducted in January and to be released this month, show homelessness rose 10 to 15 percent from last year in parts of O’ahu, advocates who oversaw the survey said…”
- Homeless numbers on the rise in metro area, By Helmut Schmidt, May 5, 2010, Forum of Fargo-Moorhead: “Kelvin Pederson and Bruce Wang can tell you a thing or two about homelessness. Pederson, 55, hasn’t had a place of his own for a year. Wang hasn’t had a true home for six years by his reckoning. The two residents at Moorhead’s Churches United for the Homeless said a loss of cheap housing, transportation and lack of credit are among the biggest issues that keep people homeless in the Fargo-Moorhead metro area. ‘I can starve to death and have a roof over my head,’ Pederson said. ‘Or eat and be homeless,’ said Wang, finishing the thought. Both have noticed an increase in the number of homeless people in the area. ‘Every day there’s people looking for beds,’ Pederson said. A survey released Tuesday of North Dakota homelessness – which included Moorhead – backs that up, showing double-digit percentage increases in homelessness the past two years…”
Cuts to Adult Education Programs – California
Recession ravaging region’s adult education classes, By Melody Gutierrez, May 4, 2010, Sacramento Bee: “Many Sacramento school districts are severely cutting adult education classes, while others are eliminating entire programs, leaving thousands of adult students wondering what classes will remain this fall. The cuts come as adult education waiting lists have ballooned across California as unemployed workers look to re-enter the work force with an expanded skill set…”