Poverty rising in suburban schools, By Rita Price, November 17, 2010, Columbus Dispatch: “Suburban school districts more known for their affluence are seeing double- and triple-digit increases in the percentage of students considered to be economically disadvantaged. A report to be released this week by KidsOhio, a Columbus-based education nonprofit organization, found that nearly half of the disadvantaged students in Franklin County now are enrolled in a suburban school district. The report documented the change over five years, from the 2004-05 school year to last school year. Although Columbus schools have the highest rate of disadvantaged kids, that district’s increase was more modest…”
Day: November 17, 2010
Access to Financial Services for the Poor
Gates Foundation pledges $500 million to help the poor save money, By Kim Murphy, Los Angeles Times: “The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation pledged $500 million Tuesday to help create new banking systems that will reach into the world’s most impoverished corners and allow families earning $2 a day or less to begin saving money. After years of promoting microcredit borrowing to help impoverished farmers and bottom-of-the-rung entrepreneurs expand their business opportunities, foundation leaders said it was increasingly apparent that saving, not just credit, is crucial to helping poor families weather crises, pay for schooling and make small investments to expand their incomes. ‘Loans for the poor in some ways may be more intuitive for people to understand, and I think people naturally understand that poor people often don’t have access to capital or to credit or to cash. But I think people don’t often as easily grasp the concept that the poor actually need to save,’ Melinda French Gates, co-chair of the foundation, said at a forum here on the swiftly expanding global financial sector aimed at serving millions of poor…”
Child Care Subsidies – Washington, California
- Cuts hit program funding child care, By Kevin Graman, November 13, 2010, Spokane Spokesman-Review: “More than 4,000 working poor households across the state will lose their child care subsidies in the coming year as a result of budget cuts to Washington WorkFirst, the state’s temporary assistance program. Crystal Watkins, of Spokane, depends on the subsidy, called Working Connections, which helps provide safe child care for her two children while she works. ‘It will totally turn my life upside down,’ said Watkins, a 27-year-old single mother. ‘I will have to find another job for which I also will have to find child care.’ Watkins now works 40 hours a week for a local bank, and earns less than $2,671 a month, 175 percent of the federal poverty level, which qualifies her for Working Connections help with child care…”
- Child care cuts felt by working parents, By Jamie Oppenheim, November 13, 2010, Merced Sun-Star: “Lourdes Centeno, a single mother of two, brooded over a letter sent to her Friday afternoon from the Merced County Office of Education. It told her she’ll still receive her state-subsidized child care — but only until Nov. 23. After that, she’s not sure what will happen.In early October, Centeno, who works as a saleswoman for Valley Satellite, got another notice telling her that on Nov. 1 the state would terminate her child-care funding. Centeno is on the CalWORKS Child Care Stage 3, a state-funded child care program for families who have transitioned from cash-aid assistance for two years and are employed…”
- State child care program spared through end of year, By Martin Espinoza, November 17, 2010, Santa Rosa Press-Democrat: “An Alameda County judge today approved a court settlement that extends until the end of the year child care services to parents who have graduated from the state’s welfare-to-work program until the end of the year. The $256 million child care program, which was slated for elimination on Nov. 1, affect some 56,000 children in the state and about 850 children in Sonoma, Lake and Mendocino counties. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger sought to end the program, known as CalWORKS Stage 3 child care, as part of $1 billion in last-minute savings through line item vetoes on Oct. 8. But the move was blocked by court order on Oct. 29, after a group of child care advocates and four state mothers sued the state…”