Reform leads to bigger role for community health centers, By Guy Boulton, June 2, 2010, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “Community health centers more than doubled in size in the past decade. Now they’ve been given the task of doubling in size yet again. The health centers, often located in low-income urban neighborhoods and rural areas, are an overlooked component of the health care system. But they provide care to nearly 244,000 people statewide, up from 89,392 in 1999. That’s roughly 80,000 people in Milwaukee, or about one in seven residents. They also have been given a crucial role – and with it, a huge increase in funding – to help meet the expected rise in demand that will accompany health care reform. Reform legislation allocated an additional $11 billion for the community health centers over the next five years. To put that in perspective, the federal government now spends $2.2 billion a year on direct support for the centers…”
Day: June 10, 2010
Foster Care System – Indiana
More Hoosier kids put in foster care, By Tim Evans, June 9, 2010, Indianapolis Star: “It is among the most devastating and gut-wrenching decisions government can make: taking a child away from his or her parents. As child welfare experts understand more about the lasting effects of such a decision, social workers have sought new ways to support troubled families and keep children in their homes. That is one of the likely explanations for the most recent federal data that reveals a 7 percent drop in the number of U.S. children removed from their homes — the most significant one-year decline in a decade. But that’s not the case in Indiana. According to that same data, the number of Hoosier children removed and placed in foster care has climbed to an all-time high, 9,375 — a 22 percent jump in removals from 2007 to 2008. That means the Indiana Department of Child Services is removing, on average, about 180 children per week…”
Homeless Shelter Policies – New York City
City drops plan to charge rent to shelter residents, By Cara Buckley, June 4, 2010, New York Times: “The Bloomberg administration has abandoned a controversial decision to charge rent to working homeless families living at city shelters, officials announced on Friday. Instead, under a new agreement that could start in September, such families would be required to set aside a part of their monthly earnings in a savings account that they can have access to once they leave the shelter system. ‘This plan will make it easier for homeless families to move into permanent housing with savings in the bank,’ said State Senator Daniel L. Squadron, who represents parts of Manhattan and Brooklyn and pushed for the new agreement, which had the support of city and state officials, as well as advocates for the homeless. Steven Banks, attorney in chief at the Legal Aid Society, which was poised to sue the city if it had continued charging rent to the working homeless families in shelters, described the new plan as a ‘huge step forward…'”